THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


JONATHAN  EDWATIDS 


AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY 

EDITED     BY 

TARED    SPARKS 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS 

By 
SAMUEL    MILLER,    D.D. 

Vol.  \ 


HARPER    &    BROTHERS 

PUBLISHERS 
NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON      J902 


~ 


GIFT 


07  f 

Vol.  I. — Edwards  i  q  «  ^ 
Vj 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

His  Birth. — His  elementary  Education. — His  col 
legiate  Course. — His  early  Piety 3 


CHAPTER  II 

His  License  to  preach  the  Gospel. — His  temporary 
Residence  in  the  City  of  New  York. — His  Tutor 
ship  in  Yale  College. — The  further  Developement 
of  his  Talents  and  Piety 23 

CHAPTER  III 

His  Settlement  as  a  Pastor  at  Northampton. — 
Ministerial  Habits.  —  Marriage.  —  His  first 
Publication.  —  Ministerial  Success.  —  Second 
and  third  Publications. — His  European  Cor 
respondence  50 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  IV 

PAGE 

The  Disorders  which  attended  the  Revival  of  Re 
ligion. — The  Treatise  on  Religious  Affections. 
— Memoirs  of  Brainerd.  —  European  Corre 
spondence  continued 85 

CHAPTER  V 

Origin  and  History  of  his  Troubles  at  Northamp 
ton. —  Publication  of  his  Work  on  Church 
Communion. — Dismission  from  his  Pastoral 
Charge. — Invitation  to  settle  at  Stockbridge  .  .  102 

CHAPTER  VI 

His  Removal  to  Stockbridge. — Difficulties  and 
Trials  there. — Indefatigable  Labors. — New  and 
important  Publications. — His  Election  to  the 
Presidency  of  New  Jersey  College  ....  126 

CHAPTER  VII 

His  Removal  to  Princeton. — Letter  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees. — Inauguration. — Sickness  and 
Death.— His  Epitaph.— His  Family  ...  146 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Estimate  of  his   Character. — Estimate   of  Dr. 
Chalmers.— Robert  Hall.— Dr.  Erskine.—Sir 
iv 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Henry  Moncreiff. — Sir  James  Mackintosh. — 
Professor  Taylor.  —  Dugald  Stewart.  —  Dr. 
Green. — Dr.  Middleton. — Dr.  Priestley. — Gen 
eral  Statements 171 

CHAPTER  IX 

His  Writings.  —  Remarks  on  his  Styk.  — 
"  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of  Religion."— 
"  Treatise  on  Religious  Affections."—"  Me 
moirs  of  Brainerd." — "  Essay  on  the  Free 
dom  of  the  Will."—"  On  Original  Sin."— 
"  History  of  Redemption." — "  Qualifications 
for  Communion." — "  Last  End  of  the  Cre 
ation." — "  Nature  of  True  Virtue." — Ser 
mons. — Other  Posthumous  Works. — General 
Views 214 

T 


LIFE 

OF 

JONATHAN    EDWARDS 

BY 

SAMUEL    MILLER,   D.D. 


SPARKS— VOL.  I. 


JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

His  Birth.  —  His  elementary  Education.  —  His 
collegiate   Course.  —  His  early  Piety. 

WE  owe  scarcely  any  debt  to  our  generation 
more  obvious,  or  more  important,  than  to  record, 
for  the  benefit  of  coming  times,  the  lives  of  men 
eminent  for  their  talents,  their  intellectual  culture, 
and  their  pure  and  elevated  virtue.  We  owe  to 
the  dead  themselves  the  duty  of  commemorating 
their  actions,  of  cherishing  their  reputation,  and 
of  perpetuating,  as  far  as  possible,  the  benefits 
which  they  have  conferred  upon  us.  This  is 
especially  the  case,  when  their  eminence  is  of 
such  a  peculiar  character  as  to  present,  at  every 
step,  an  example  adapted  not  to  dazzle,  but  to  in 
struct,  to  guide,  and  to  animate.  It  was  quaintly 
said  by  one  of  the  kings  of  Aragon,  "  Dead  men 
are  our  best  instructors."  With  living  men,  and 
passing  measures,  there  is,  ordinarily,  connected 
so  much  prejudice  and  passion,  that  we  are  often 


4   .-    ...         AMERICAN.    BIOGRAPHY. 

insensible  .to.  their  most  impressive  lessons.  But, 
>wfleii  death1  -has  set'-  his.  seal  upon  the  character 
of  a  departed  worthy,  and  the  din  of  conflict  has 
passed  away,  we  are  prepared  to  receive  the  full 
benefit  of  his  example. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  character  and  the  workg 
of  some  men  become  more  precious  to  the  com 
munity  every  year  that  we  recede  from  the  period 
of  their  departure  from  the  scene  of  action.  No 
one  can  doubt  that  this  is  the  case  with  regard  to 
the  life  of  the  great  and  good  man  whose  history 
and  portrait  there  will  now  be  an  attempt  to  ex 
hibit.  The  writer  of  these  pages,  in  undertaking 
the  task  assigned  to  him,  of  compiling  the  follow 
ing  memoir,  felt  that  he  was  venturing  on  the  per 
formance  of  a  duty  as  arduous  as  it  was  honora 
ble.  He  considered  himself  as  called  upon,  not 
to  be  the  apologist  of  a  party,  but  faithfully  to 
exhibit  one  of  the  greatest  of  men  just  as  he  was, 
and  to  endeavor  to  render  his  history  and  char 
acter  useful  to  the  great  cause  to  which  he  con 
secrated  his  life.  Whatever  may  be  the  measure 
of  his  success,  this  is  his  great  object.  For  the 
same  purpose,  the  view  taken  will  be  more  ex 
tended  and  minute  than,  in  ordinary  cases,  is 
deemed  proper  for  the  present  work.  In  taking 
this  course,  the  supposition  can  scarcely  be  ad 
mitted  that  it  will  be  regretted  by  intelligent 
readers. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  5 

JONATHAN  EDWARDS  was  born  at  East  Wind 
sor,  Connecticut,  on  the  5th  day  of  October, 
1703.  His  parents  were,  the  Reverend  Timothy 
Edwards,  for  sixty-four  years  the  beloved  and 
venerated  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
of  East  Windsor ;  and  Esther  Stoddard,  daughter 
of  the  Reverend  Solomon  Stoddard,  who  was,  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  pastor  or  the  church 
of  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and,  in  his  day, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  ministers  of  New  Eng 
land  for  piety,  talents,  pastoral  fidelity,  and  useful 
ness.  The  families  of  Edwards  and  Stoddard 
were  both  of  English  descent,  and  had  been  both 
distinguished,  for  several  generations,  for  piety, 
intellectual  vigor,  and  commanding  influence  in 
their  respective  spheres  of  duty.  William  Ed 
wards,  Esquire,  the  great-grandfather  of  Jonathan, 
was  the  first  of  his  family  who  came  to  America, 
about  the  year  1640,  and  settled  in  Hartford,  as 
a  respectable  merchant ;  and  Anthony  Stoddard, 
Esquire,  the  grandfather  of  Esther  Stoddard,  ap 
pears  to  have  emigrated  from  the  West  of  Eng 
land,  about  the  same  time,  and  to  have  taken  up 
his  abode  in  Boston  ;  in  what  profession  is  un 
known. 

The  character  of  Esther  Stoddard,  the  mother 
of  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  no  less  emi 
nent  than  that  of  her  husband.  She  is  repre 
sented,  by  tradition,  as  a  woman  of  distinguished 


6  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

strength  of  mind,  of  superior  education,  peculiarly 
fond  of  reading,  and  of  ardent  piety  ;  and,  of 
course,  as  well  adapted  to  adorn  and  to  bless  the 
large  domestic  circle  committed  to  her  care.  She 
was  the  mother  of  eleven  children.  The  subject 
of  this  memoir  was  the  fifth  child  of  his  parents 
in  order,  and  their  only  son. 

Young  Edwards  received  all  the  early  part  of 
his  education  under  his  paternal  roof  at  East 
Windsor.  His  father  was  eminent  among  his 
clerical  brethren  as  a  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew 
scholar,  and  was,  for  many  years,  in  the  habit 
of  receiving  under  his  tuition,  and  preparing  for 
college,  a  number  of  young  men  destined  for 
the  learned  professions.  He  also  instructed  his 
daughters  in  the  same  branches  of  knowledge,  as 
are  usually  required  in  candidates  for  admission 
into  the  college  classes.  Under  the  direction  of 
this  enlightened,  pious,  and  affectionate  parent, 
aided  by  his  elder  sisters,  who  had  preceded  him 
in  these  branches  of  instruction,  the  subject  of 
this  memoir  commenced  the  study  of  the  Latin 
language  at  six  years  of  age. 

Of  the  character  or  history  of  these  eaily 
studies,  little  is  known,  excepting  that  it  may  be 
inferred,  from  the  accuracy  and  maturity  of  his 
attainments  in  classical  literature,  and  in  Hebrew, 
in  after-life,  that  the  foundation,  in  these  depart 
ments  of  knowl  ?dge,  was  now  carefully  and  skil- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  7 

fully  laid.  From  the  earliest  period  of  his  educa 
tion  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  his  intellectual 
culture  seems  to  have  been  marked  by  an  ardent 
thirst  for  knowledge,  a  desire  to  go  to  the  bottom 
of  every  subject,  and,  what  might  have  been  ex 
pected,  as  the  natural  consequence,  indefatigable 
diligence.  He  was  early  taught,  by  his  excellent 
father,  to  use  the  pen  abundantly ;  to  study  with 
it  habitually  in  his  hand  ;  to  make  a  record  of  his 
doubts,  his  difficulties,  and  his  comments  on  every 
subject,  and  to  bring  all  his  knowledge  to  the  test 
of  expressing  it  on  paper  for  himself.  In  a  word, 
it  seems  to  have  been  a  leading  principle  of  his 
father,  in  regard  to  this  son,  and  indeed  all  his 
children,  to  encourage  them,  from  their  tenderest 
years,  to  engage  frequently  in  letter-writing,  and 
every  other  kind  of  composition,  as  one  of  the 
best  means  of  intellectual  discipline.  That  this 
early  habit  exerted  much  influence  on  his  subse 
quent  studies  and  investigations,  and  contributed, 
in  no  small  degree,  to  give  a  character  to  his 
after-life,  cannot  be  doubted. 

Nor  did  he  confine  his  attention,  at  this  tender 
age,  to  those  studies  which  usually  employ  the 
mental  faculties  in  their  earlier  developement. 
Nothing  that  came  in  his  way  seems  to  have 
escaped  his  inquisitive  and  active  powers.  The 
science  of  nature,  as  well  as  of  the  mind  and  of 
morals,  all  had  attractions  for  him,  and  all  engaged 


AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHT. 

a  portion  of  his  attention.  The  humble  record 
of  his  reply,  at  ten  years  of  age,  to  a  fellow- 
student,  who  had  advanced  the  notion  that  the 
soul  is  material,  certainly  evinces  a  capacity  of 
connected  thought  on  such  subjects,  and  a  power 
of  humor  and  sarcasm,  truly  rare  in  a  child.  And 
his  detailed  notice  and  speculations  on  the  habits 
of  the  Wood-Spider,  two  years  afterwards,  show  a 
degree  of  wakefulness,  activity,  and  discrimmatiop 
of  mind,  a  habit  of  close  attention,  and  a  power 
of  philosophical  speculation,  altogether  extraor 
dinary. 

In  the  year  1716,  this  remarkable  youth  en 
tered  Yale  College  at  New  Haven,  a  few  days 
before  the  completion  of  the  thirteenth  year  of 
his  age.  That  institution  was  then  not  only  in 
its  infancy,  but  likewise  laboring  under  many  and 
serious  disadvantages.  It  had  been  founded  at 
Saybrook,  in  1701  ;  but  the  rector  or  president 
resided  at  Killingworth,  eight  or  ten  miles  distant 
from  Saybrook,  because  he  continued  to  be  the 
pastor  of  a  church  at  the  former  place,  and  his 
people  refused  to  consent  to  his  dismission  from 
them.  All  the  students,  therefore,  during  the  in 
cumbency  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Pierson,  the  first 
rector,  resided  and  studied  at  Killingworth.  The 
commencements,  however,  were  constantly  held 
at  Saybrook,  which  was  the  nominal  and  legal 
seat  of  the  college. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  9 

After  the  death  of  the  first  rector,  in  1707,  his 
successor,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Andrews,  appointed 
rector  pro  tempore,  also  continued  for  twelve  years 
to  hold  the  office  in  conjunction  with  that  of  pas 
tor  of  the  church  at  Milford,  more  than  forty  miles 
distant  from  Saybrook.  So  that  when  young  Ed 
wards  entered  the  college,  the  students  were  scat 
tered  in  several  places,  owing  to  a  struggle  in 
respect  to  its  ultimate  location.  Thirteen  resided 
at  New  Haven,  fourteen  at  Wethersfield,  and  four 
at  Saybrook.  The  distance  of  the  rector's  resi 
dence  from  the  places  of  study  and  tuition  greatly 
diminished  both  his  influence  and  his  usefulness. 
Both  the  instruction  and  government  of  the  in 
stitution  were  chiefly  conducted  by  the  tutors. 
Owing  to  this,  and  other  untoward  circumstances, 
the  state  of  the  college,  at  the  time  referred  to, 
was  peculiarly  unfriendly  to  tranquil  and  profitable 
study. 

But  such  were  the  love  of  knowledge  and  the 
manly  firmness  of  young  Edwards,  that  no  diffi 
culty  appalled  him  ;  no  agitation  turned  him  aside 
from  his  prescribed  course.  He  surmounted  all 
obstacles,  and  showed  that  he  was  able  to  mark 
out  a  course  for  himself.  Though  his  fellow- 
students  became  disorderly,  and,  at  length,  mu 
tinous,  yet  he  took  no  part  in  the  mutiny  and 
insubordination  which  surrounded  him,  but  studied 
with  diligence  and  success ;  and  such  were  his 


10  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

dignity  and  scholarship,  that  he  maintained,  by  the 
acknowledgment  of  all,  the  highest  standing  in 
his  class,  and  the  entire  respect  and  confidence 
of  his  fellow-students,  notwithstanding  his  refusal 
to  unite  with  them  in  their  disorderly  proceedings. 
No  part  of  his  collegiate  studies  seems  to  have 
been  slighted,  much  less  overlooked.  All  of  them 
appear  to  have  engaged  his  close  and  faithful  at 
tention.  On  all  of  them  he  seems  to  have  laid 
out  his  strength.  Here,  as  under  his  father's  roof, 
he  continued  the  habit  of  using  the  pen  continu 
ally  in  all  his  studies. 

It  is  presumed  to  be  very  rare  indeed  that  3 
boy  of  fourteen  years  of  age  ever  thinks  of  look 
ing  into  such  a  book  as  Locke's  "  Essay  on  thf 
Human  Understanding."  But  that  such  a  youtL 
should  not  only  look  into  it,  but  enter  with  delight 
into  its  philosophy  and  its  arguments,  is  a  fact  of 
which  there  are  probably  few  examples.  Yet- 
such  was  the  case  with  the  subject  of  this  memoii 
In  his  second  year  in  college,  he  not  only  read 
the  work  in  question  with  interest,  but  declared 
that,  in  the  perusal  of  it,  he  enjoyed  a  far  higher 
pleasure  "  than  the  most  greedy  miser  finds,  when 
gathering  up  handfuls  of  silver  and  gold  from  some 
newly-discovered  treasure."  This  fact  shows  the 
bent,  as  well  as  the  wakeful  activity,  of  his  mind. 
To  this  department  of  study  he  manifested  an 
insatiable  fondness  to  the  end  of  life,  But  in 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  11 

every  department,  to  which  his  attention  was 
turned,  he  was  a  devoted  student.  In  mathe 
matics,  in  natural  philosophy  and  astronomy,  and 
in  moral  science,  as  well  as  in  the  philosophy  of 
the  human  mind,  he  appears  to  have  been  deter 
mined  to  take  nothing  on  trust,  but  to  think,  to 
inquire,  and  to  judge  for  himself.  The  manuscript 
notes,  which  he  left  on  all  these  subjects,  bear  a 
very  striking  character.  They  evince  a  mind 
ardent  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  deter 
mined  to  digest  and  make  his  own  every  thing 
that  he  received  from  books,  or  from  his  teachers, 
and  even  a  disposition,  at  that  early  age,  to  push 
his  inquiries  beyond  them  all. 

The  close  of  his  collegiate  course  corresponded 
with  this  reputation.  It  was  not  only  honorable, 
but  so  in  the  highest  degree.  In  September, 
1720,  a  few  days  before  the  completion  of  his 
seventeenth  year,  he  received  the  first  degree  in 
the  arts ;  and,  at  the  Commencement,  had  assigned 
to  him  not  only  the  most  eminent,  but  almost  the 
sole  and  accumulated  honor  awarded  to  his  class. 

The  mind  of  this  extraordinary  youth,  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  the  character  of  his 
parents,  was  early  and  carefully  directed  in  the 
channel  of  moral  and  religious  culture.  His  fa 
ther's  family  seems  to  have  been  a  scene  of  the 
most  pure  and  refined  intellectual  and  moral  in 
fluence,  as  well  as  of  the  mos'  sound  and  enlight- 


12  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ened  piety.  Perhaps  in  no  domestic  circle  in  the 
land,  were  habits  of  thought,  of  intelligence,  of 
literary  taste,  of  industry,  and  of  religion  in  all  its 
loveliness,  more  conspicuous  than  in  that  of  which 
he  was  a  member.  There  is  no  human  influence 
better  adapted  to  exert  a  happy  power  in  forming 
the  character  of  a  young  man,  than  the  society  of 
cultivated,  refined,  and  virtuous  sisters.  In  this 
respect,  young  Edwards  was  peculiarly  favored. 
Himself  the  only  son,  associated  with  ten  sisters 
of  enlightened,  polished  minds,  and  engaged,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  in  the  same  studies  with  him 
self,  he  manifested  all  that  softness,  refinement, 
and  moral  correctness,  which  the  society  of  such 
sisters  was  eminently  adapted  to  impress.  He 
was  in  a  school  fitted  to  impart  the  finest  moral 
finish  to  intellectual  culture.  Even  before  his 
mind  was  brought  under  the  governing  influence 
of  religious  truth,  his  amiable  spirit,  his  modesty, 
his  docility,  his  dutifulness  to  his  parents,  his  fra 
ternal  kindness  and  attention,  and  his  uniform 
respectfulness  and  regularity,  —  all  demonstrated 
that  his  domestic  training  had  been  of  the  most 
benign  and  happy  character.  And  hence,  during 
his  collegiate  course,  amidst  all  the  disorders  into 
which  his  fellow-students  were  betrayed  by  their 
peculiar  and  unhappy  circumstances,  he  seems  to 
have  stood  aloof  from  all  their  turbulence ;  to 
have  maintained  a  prudent,  firm,  inoffensive,  dig- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  13 

nified  course,  and  yet  not  to  have  forfeited  the 
respect  or  the  good  will  of  his  companions  in 
study. 

He  had  no  participation  in  that  ignoble  char 
acter,  which  is  too  often  found  in  the  classes  of 
colleges ;  the  character  of  those  who,  while  they 
boast  of  their  spirit  and  manliness,  have  not  the 
moral  courage  to  do  as  their  own  consciences  tell 
ihem  they  ought  in  a  season  of  disorder  and  re 
bellion.  There  is  no  more  miserable  cowardice, 
than  that  which  governs  young  men  in  public 
literary  institutions,  who  cannot  summon  firmness 
of  mind  enough  to  separate  themselves  from  dis 
orderly,  mutinous  companions ;  but  are  dragged 
on,  in  a  course  which  they  secretly  condemn,  and 
which  may  lead  not  only  to  their  injury  and  dis 
grace,  but  to  their  irretrievable  ruin.  We  have,  in 
the  character  of  the  noble  youth  before  us,  an 
example  of  one  who  manifested  all  the  softness 
and  refinement  of  the  most  plastic  nature,  united 
with  all  the  decision,  moral  courage,  and  elevation 
of  spirit,  that  marked  the  finest  specimen  of  mod 
est  heroism. 

The  first  religious  impressions  of  any  remarka 
ble  character,  made  on  the  mind  of  young  Ed 
wards,  seem  to  have  occurred  in  the  seventh  or 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  They  were  made  during 
a  season  of  unusual  religious  attention  in  his  fa 
ther's  church.  According  to  his  own  modest 


14:  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

account,  he  was  for  many  months  nuch  affected, 
and  seriously  concerned  about  the  things  of  re 
ligion,  and  his  soul's  salvation.  He  was  abundant 
in  religious  duties ;  used  to  pray  five  times  a  day 
in  secret ;  spent  much  time  in  religious  conversa 
tion  and  prayer  with  other  boys ;  united  with 
them  in  erecting  a  booth,  as  a  place  of  social 
worship,  in  a  neighboring  retired  place  ;  and  often 
felt  much  flow  of  affection  and  pleasure  when 
engaged  in  the  exercises  of  religion.  In  a  few 
months,  however,  these  impressions  and  habits 
gradually  wore  off,  and  he  returned  to  his  former 
state  of  comparative  carelessness.  His  own  de 
liberate  estimate,  afterwards,  of  his  exercises  at 
this  period,  was  that  they  were  spurious,  and  by 
no  means  partook  of  the  nature  of  genuine  piety. 
A  different  estimate,  however,  has  been  formed 
by  some  of  his  pious  friends.  They  suppose  that, 
even  then,  the  germ  of  true  religion  was  implanted 
in  his  heart,  which,  amidst  some  subsequent  back 
sliding,  never  wholly  perished. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  his  course  in  college, 
impressions  of  a  more  deep,  genuine,  and  perma 
nent  character  seem  to  have  been  made  on  his 
heart.  To  this  period  he  referred  the  commence 
ment  of  his  life  as  a  Christian.  His  own  account 
of  the  event  is  in  the  following  language. 

"  I  was  brought  to  seek  salvation  in  a  manner 
that  I  never  was  before.  I  felt  a  spirit  to  part 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  15 

with  all  things  in  the  world  for  an  interest  in 
Christ.  My  concern  continued  and  prevailed, 
with  many  exercising  thoughts  and  inward  strug 
gles ;  but  yet  it  never  seemed  to  be  proper  to  ex 
press  that  concern  by  the  name  of  terror.  From 
my  childhood  up,  my  mind  had  been  full  of  ob 
jections  against  the  doctrine  of  God's  sovereignty 
in  choosing  whom  he  would  to  eternal  life,  and 
rejecting  whom  he  pleased.  It  used  to  appear 
like  a  horrible  doctrine  to  me.  But  I  remember 
the  time  very  well  when  I  seemed  to  be  con 
vinced  and  fully  satisfied  as  to  this  sovereignty 
of  God,  and  his  justice  in  thus  eternally  disposing 
of  men  according  to  his  sovereign  pleasure.  But 
I  never  could  give  an  account  how,  or  by  what 
means,  I  was  thus  convinced ;  not  in  the  least 
imagining  at  the  time  nor  for  a  long  time  after, 
that  there  was  any  extraordinary  influence  of 
God's  spirit  in  it ;  but  only  that  now  I  saw  fur 
ther,  and  my  reason  apprehended  the  justice  and 
reasonableness  of  it.  However,  my  mind  rested 
in  it ;  and  it  put  an  end  to  all  those  cavils  and 
objections. 

"  And  there  has  been  a  wonderful  alteration  in 
my  mind  with  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  God's 
sovereignty,  from  that  day  to  this ;  so  tha  I  scarce 
ever  have  found  so  much  as  the  rising  of  an  ob 
jection  against  it,  in  the  most  absolute  sense,  m 
God's  showing  mercy  to  whom  he  will  show 


16  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

mercy,  and  hardening  whom  he  will.  But  1 
have  often,  since  that  first  conviction,  had  quite 
another  kind  of  sense  of  God's  sovereignty  than 
I  had  then.  I  have  often,  since,  had  not  only  a 
conviction,  but  a  delightful  conviction.  The  doc 
trine  has  very  often  appeared  exceedingly  pleas 
ant,  bright,  and  sweet.  Absolute  sovereignty  is 
what  I  love  to  ascribe  to  God.  But  my  first  con 
viction  was  not  so.  The  first  instance  that  I  re 
member  of  that  sort  of  inward,  sweet  delight  in 
God  and  divine  things,  that  I  have  lived  much 
in  since,  was  on  reading  these  words,  1  Timothy, 
i.  17.  Now  unto  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  in 
visible,  the  only  wise  God,  be  honor  and  glory 
for  ever  and  ever,  Amen.  As  I  read  the  words, 
there  came  into  my  soul,  and  was  as  it  were 
diffused  through  it,  a  sense  of  the  glory  of  the 
Divine  Being ;  a  new  sense,  quite  different  from 
any  thing  I  ever  experienced  before.  Never  any 
words  of  Scripture  seemed  to  me  as  these  words 
did.  I  thought  with  myself,  how  excellent  a 
Being  that  was,  and  how  happy  I  should  be,  if 
I  might  enjoy  that  God,  and  be  rapt  up  to  him 
m  heaven,  and  be,  as  it  were,  swallowed  up  in 
him  for  ever.  I  kept  saying,  and  as  it  were  sing 
ing,  over  these  words  of  Scripture  to  myself,  and 
went  to  pray  to  God  that  I  might  enjoy  him ;  and 
prayed  in  a  manner  quite  different  from  what  1 
used  to  do,  with  a  new  sort  of  affection. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  17 

"  From  about  that  time,  I  began  to  have  a  new 
kind  of  apprehensions  and  ideas  of  Christ,  and 
the  work  of  redemption,  and  the  glorious  way  of 
salvation  by  him.  An  inward,  sweet  sense  of 
th?se  things,  at  times,  came  into  my  heart,  and 
my  soul  was  led  away  in  pleasant  views  and  con 
templations  of  them.  My  mind  was  greatly  en 
gaged  to  spend  my  time  in  reading  and  meditating 
on  Christ,  on  the  beauty  and  excellency  of  his 
person,  and  the  lovely  way  of  salvation  by  free 
grace  in  him.  I  found  no  books  so  delightful  to 
me,  as  those  which  treated  of  these  subjects. 
Those  words,  Canticles  ii.  1,  used  to  be  abun 
dantly  with  me.  They  seemed  to  me  sweetly 
to  represent  the  loveliness  and  beauty  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  whole  book  of  Canticles  used  to 
be  pleasant  to  me,  and  I  used  to  be  much  in 
reading  it  about  that  time,  and  found,  from  time 
to  time,  an  inward  sweetness,  that  would  carry 
me  away  in  my  contemplations.  This  I  know 
not  how  to  express  otherwise,  than  by  a  calm, 
sweet  abstraction  of  soul  from  all  the  concerns  of 
this  world  ;  and  sometimes  a  kind  of  vision,  or 
fixed  ideas  and  imaginations  of  being  alone  in  the 
mountains,  or  some  solitary  wilderness,  far  from 
all  mankind,  sweetly  conversing  with  Christ,  and 
wrapped  and  swallowed  up  in  God.  The  sense 
I  had  of  divine  things  would  often,  of  a  sudden, 
kindle  up,  as  it  were,  a  sweet  burning  in  my 

i.— 2 


18  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

heart ;  an  ardor  of  soul  that  I  know  not  how  to 
expiess. 

"  Not  long  after  I  first  began  to  experience 
these  things,  I  gave  an  account  to  my  father  of 
some  things  that  had  passed  in  my  mind.  I  was 
pretty  much  affected  by  the  discourse  which  we 
had  together;  and,  when  the  discourse  was  end 
ed,  I  walked  abroad  alone  in  a  solitary  place  in 
my  father's  pasture,  for  contemplation.  And  as  I 
was  walking  there,  and  looking  upon  the  sky  and 
clouds,  there  came  into  my  mind  so  sweet  a  sense 
of  the  glorious  majesty  and  grace  of  God,  as  I 
know  not  how  to  express.  I  seemed  to  see  them 
both  in  a  sweet  conjunction ;  majesty  and  meek 
ness  joined  together.  It  was  a  sweet  and  gentle, 
and  holy  majesty  ;  and  also  a  majestic  meekness  ; 
an  awful  sweetness ;  a  high,  and  great,  and  holy 
gentleness. 

"After  this,  my 'sense  of  divine  things  gradually 
increased,  and  became  more  and  more  lively,  and 
had  more  of  that  inward  sweetness.  The  appear 
ance  of  every  thing  was  altered.  There  seemed 
to  be,  as  it  were,  a  calm,  sweet  cast,  or  appear 
ance  of  divine  glory,  in  almost  every  thing.  God's 
excellency,  his  wisdom,  his  purity  and  love  seemed 
to  appear  in  every  thing ;  in  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars ;  in  the  clouds  and  sky ;  in  the  grass,  flowers, 
and  trees  ;  in  the  water  and  all  nature ;  which 
used  greatly  to  fix  my  mind.  I  often  used  to  sit 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  19 

and  view  the  moon  for  a  long  time  ;  and,  in  the 
day,  spent  much  time  in  viewing  the  clouds  and 
sky,  to  behold  the  sweet  glory  of  God  in  these 
things  ;  in  the  mean  time,  singing  forth,  with  a 
low  voice,  my  contemplations  of  the  Creator  and 
Redeemer.  And  scarce  any  thing,  among  all  the 
works  of  nature,  was  so  sweet  to  me  as  thunder 
and  lightning;  although  formerly  nothing  had  been 
so  terrible  to  me.  Before,  I  used  to  be  uncom 
monly  terrified  with  thunder,  and  to  be  struck 
with  terror  when  I  saw  a  thunder-storm  rising ; 
but  now,  on  the  contrary,  it  rejoiced  me.  I  felt 
God,  if  I  may  so  speak,  at  the  first  appearance 
of  a  thunder-storm,  and  used  to  take  the  oppor 
tunity  at  such  times,  to  fix  myself  in  order  to 
view  the  clouds,  and  see  the  lightnings  play,  and 
hear  the  majestic  and  awful  voice  of  God's  thun 
der,  which  oftentimes  was  exceedingly  entertain 
ing,  leading  me  to  sweet  contemplations  of  my 
great  and  glorious  God. 

"  While  thus  engaged,  it  always  seemed  natural 
for  me  to  sing  or  chant  forth  my  meditations,  or 
to  speak  my  thoughts  in  soliloquies,  with  a  singing 
voice.  I  had  vehement  longings  of  soul  after 
God  and  Christ,  and  after  more  holiness,  where 
with  my  heart  seemed  to  be  full,  and  ready 
to  break ;  which  often  brought  to  my  mind  the 
words  of  the  Psalmist,  Psalm  cxix.  20.  My  soul 
breaJceth  for  the  longing  it  hath  I  often  felt  a 


20  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

mourning  and  lamenting  in  my  heart,  that  I  had 
not  turned  unto  God  sooner,  that  I  might  have 
had  more  time  to  grow  in  grace.  My  mind  was 
greatly  fixed  on  divine  things  ;  indeed  almost  per 
petually  in  the  contemplation  of  them. 

"  I  spent  most  of  my  time  in  thinking  of  divine 
things,  year  after  year;  often  walking  alone  in 
the  woods  and  solitary  places  for  meditation,  so 
liloquy,  and  prayer,  and  converse  with  God.  It 
was  always  my  manner,  at  such  times,  to  sing 
forth  my  contemplation.  I  was  almost  constantly 
in  ejaculatory  prayer,  wherever  I  was.  Prayer 
seemed  to  be  natural  to  me,  as  the  breath  by 
which  the  inward  burnings  of  my  heart  had  vent. 
The  delights,  which  I  now  felt  in  the  things  of 
religion,  were  of  an  exceedingly  different  kind 
from  those  before  mentioned,  that  I  had  when  a 
boy ;  and  what  then  I  had  no  more  notion  of, 
than  one  born  blind  has  of  pleasant  and  beautiful 
colors.  They  were  of  a  more  inward,  pure,  soul 
animating  and  refreshing  nature.  Those  former 
delights  never  reached  my  heart,  and  did  not 
arise  from  any  sight  of  the  divine  excellency  of 
the  things  of  God;  or  any  taste  of  the  soul- 
latisfying  and  life-giving  good  there  is  in  them." 

Such  were  the  decisive  religious  views  and  ele 
vated  affections  with  which  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  was  blessed,  when  he  was  between  six 
teen   and   seventeen   years   of   age.      To   some 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  21 

readers  a  portion  of  his  language  may  appear  to 
indicate  an  excited  imagination,  and  a  state  of 
feeling  bordering  on  enthusiasm.  But  such  an 
estimate  will  not  be  made  by  any,  who  have  had 
an  opportunity  of  attending  to  the  subsequent 
writings  of  this  illustrious  man,  or  who  have  con 
templated  the  strongly -marked  character  of  his 
piety  in  after-life.  The  truth  is,  he  entered  more 
heartily  and  thoroughly  into  the  character  of  the 
great  objects  of  pious  emotion  than  most  Chris 
tians  do ;  and  no  wonder  that  he  spake  a  corre 
sponding  language. 

In  all  his  Diary,  his  language  on  the  subject  of 
personal  religion  is  more  strong  and  fervid  than 
is  common,  chiefly  because  his  piety  was  more 
deep  and  ardent,  as  well  as  more  enlightened, 
than  is  commonly  found  even  in  zealous,  devoted 
believers.  As  his  intellectual  superiority  to  most 
men  appeared  even  in  his  early  youth,  so  the 
character  of  his  piety,  from  its  very  commence 
ment,  bears  the  stamp  of  unusual  depth,  fervor, 
clearness,  and  governing  power.  It  is  probable 
that  those,  who  are  most  capable  of  appreciating 
religious  character,  after  comparing  all  the  me 
morials  of  this  eminent  man  in  relation  to  his 
religious  exercises,  will  be  of  the  opinion  that  a 
more  edifying  example  of  piety,  sober  and  scrip 
tural,  as  well  as  elevated,  is  rarely  to  be  found 
in  the  church  of  God.  His  divine  Master  was 


AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

evidently  training  him,  from  his  earliest  youth,  in 
the  school  of  sanctified  experience,  as  well  as 
of  intellectual  culture,  for  those  eminent  services 
in  the  department  of  practical  piety,  as  well  as 
of  theological  investigation,  which  he  was  des 
tined  afterwards  to  render  to  his  generation. 

The  date  of  his  first  making  a  profession  of 
religion  by  uniting  himself  with  the  church,  is  not 
precisely  known.  It  was,  probably,  about  the 
time  of  his  leaving  college,  or  soon  after  the 
completion  of  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  age. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  2?> 


CHAPTER  II. 

His  License  to  preach  the  Gospel.  —  His  tempo 
rary  Residence  in  the  City  of  New  York.  — 
His  Tutorship  in  Yale  College.  —  The  fur* 
ther  Developement  of  his  Talents  and  Piety. 

THE  subject  of  this  memoir,  after  completing 
his  undergraduate  course  at  New  Haven,  returned 
to  the  college,  and  spent  nearly  two  years  in  con 
nexion  with  it,  diligently  prosecuting  his  theologi 
cal  studies  with  a  view  to  the  gospel  ministry. 
During  this  time,  his  piety  seems  to  have  been 
fervent,  active,  and  growing.  In  June  or  July, 
1722,  after  the  usual  preparatory  trials,  he  re 
ceived  a  license  to  preach  the  gospel,  a  few 
months  before  the  completion  of  his  nineteenth 
year.  Almost  immediately  after  beginning  to 
preach,  he  was  selected  by  some  ministers  of 
New  England,  who  had  been  intrusted  with  the 
choice  of  a  candidate  for  that  purpose,  to  visit  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  preach  to  a  small  body 
of  Presbyterians,  who  had  been  recently  organ 
ized,  as  a  church,  under  peculiar  circumstances, 
in  that  city. 

The  first  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of 


24:  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

New  York  was  organized  in  1716  ;  and  their  first 
pastor  was  the  Reverend  James  Anderson,  a  na 
tive  of  Scotland,  who  had  been,  for  several  years 
before,  the  pastor  of  a  church  at  New  Castle,  in 
Delaware.  The  church  prospered  under  his  min 
istrations,  and  erected  a  commodious  edifice  in 
Wall  Street,  near  Broadway,  in  1719.  But  still 
the  congregation,  though  not  large  enough  to  ad 
mit  of  an  advantageous  division,  was  not  entirely 
united.  A  number  of  them,  having  been  accus 
tomed  to  the  less  regular  and  rigid  habits  of  the 
Congregational  churches  of  South  Britain  and  of 
New  England,  were  not  pleased  with  the  strict 
Presbyterianism,  according  to  the  Scottish  mod 
el,  which  Mr.  Anderson  endeavored  to  enforce. 
They  charged  him  with  ecclesiastical  domination, 
and  also  with  an  interference  in  the  temporal  con 
cerns  of  the  church.  On  these  accounts  the  un 
easiness  of  the  dissatisfied  party  became  at  length 
so  great,  that,  in  the  year  1722,  they  drew  off 
from  the  body  of  the  congregation,  formed  them 
selves  into  a  separate  church,  and  worshipped 
apart  for  a  number  of  months. 

This  new  society,  soon  after  their  organization, 
as  before  stated,  received  the  subject  of  this  me 
moir  to  preach  as  a  candidate  for  settlement.  He 
came  to  them  in  the  month  of  August,  1722,  and 
supplied  their  pulpit,  with  much  acceptance,  until 
the  following  April.  But,  finding  the  congrega- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  25 

tion  too  small  to  support  a  minister,  and  perceiv 
ing  some  unexpected  difficulties  to  arise,  he  left 
the  city,  and  returned  to  East  Windsor.  The 
impression,  which  he  left  on  the  minds  of  this 
people,  seems  to  have  been  not  only  favorable, 
but  very  strongly  so.  Some  of  them,  indeed, 
appear  to  have  conceived  for  him  a  very  warm 
attachment.  Accordingly  he  was,  soon  afterwards, 
earnestly  solicited  by  them  to  pay  them  another 
visit.  But,  judging  from  what  he  saw  when 
among  them,  that  it  was  not  his  duty  to  become 
their  pastor,  he  declined  a  compliance  with  their 
second  invitation.  Whether  they  ever  called  any 
other  preacher,  and  how  long  they  continued  in 
a  state  of  separation  from  the  main  body  of  the 
church,  is  not  known.  It  is  believed,  however, 
that,  soon  after  Mr.  Edwards  left  them,  they  per 
ceived  the  impossibility  of  their  going  on  with 
comfort,  as  a  separate  congregation,  and  quietly 
returned  to  their  old  connexion. 

Mr.  Edwards  appears  to  have  passed  his  time 
in  New  York  with  pleasure  and  profit.  His  let 
ters  and  diary  of  that  date,  indicate  unusual  corn- 
fort  in  religion,  and  a  deep  impression  of  the  kind 
ness  and  Christian  affection  of  the  little  flock  to 
which  he  ministered. 

During  the  time  that  he  passed  in  theological 
study  at  New  Haven,  in  the  city  of  New  York> 
and  in  his  subsequent  residence  for  a  number  of 


26  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

months  at  his  father's  house  in  East  Windsor,  he 
formed  a  number  of  resolutions  for  the  govern- 

O 

ment  of  his  own  heart  and  life,  which,  though 
evidently  intended  for  his  own  private  use  alone, 
have,  happily,  been  left  on  record  for  the  use 
of  after  times.  These  resolutions  are  seventy  in 
number,  and  were  all  formed  and  committed  to 
writing  before  he  was  twenty  years  of  age.  No 
abridgment  or  general  description  would  be  doing 
justice,  either  to  the  resolutions  themselves,  or  to 
the  memory  of  him  who  formed  them.  They 
are  here  recited  at  length,  under  the  persuasion 
that  a  more  instructive  and  impressive  memorial 
can  scarcely  be  presented  to  the  minds  of  young 
men  ;  and  also  that  no  intelligent  reader  can  rise 
from  the  perusal  of  them  without  the  conviction, 
that  he,  who  formed  them  at  such  an  early  age, 
must  have  had  a  firmness  of  religious  principle, 
a  depth  of  piety,  a  decision  of  character,  an  ac 
quaintance  with  the  human  heart,  and  a  compre 
hensiveness  of  views  in  regard  to  Christian  duty, 
truly  rare  in  the  most  mature  minds. 

"  RESOLUTIONS. 

"  Being  sensible  that  I  am  unable  to  do  any 
thing  without  God's  help,  I  do  humbly  entreat 
him  by  his  grace,  to  enable  me  to  keep  these 
resolutions,  so  far  as  they  are  agreeable  to  hi? 
will,  for  Christ's  sake. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  27 

"  Remember  to  read  over  these  resolutions  once 
a  week. 

"  1.  Resolved,  That  I  will  do  whatsoever  I 
think  to  be  most  to  the  glory  of  God  and  my  own 
good,  profit,  and  pleasure,  in  the  whole  of  my 
duration,  without  any  consideration  of  the  time, 
whether  now,  or  never  so  many  myriads  of  ages 
hence.  Resolved,  to  do  whatever  I  think  to  be 
my  duty,  and  most  for  the  good  of  mankind  in 
general.  Resolved  so  to  do,  whatever  difficulties 
I  meet  with,  how  many  soever,  and  how  great 
soever. 

"  2.  Resolved,  To  be  continually  endeavoring 
to  find  out  some  new  contrivance  and  invention 
to  promote  the  forementioned  things. 

"  3.  Resolved,  If  ever  I  shall  fall  and  grow 
dull,  so  as  to  neglect  to  keep  any  part  of  these 
resolutions,  to  repent  of  all  I  can  remember,  when 
I  come  to  myself  again. 

"  4.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  manner  of 
thing,  whether  in  soul  or  body,  less  or  more,  but 
what  tends  to  the  glory  of  God  ;  nor  be,  nor  suffer 
it,  if  I  can  possibly  avoid  it. 

"5.  Resolved,  Never  to  lose  one  moment  of 
time,  but  to  improve  it  in  the  most  profitable  way 
.  possibly  can 

"  6.  Resolved,  To  live  with  all  my  might  while 
I  da  live. 

"  7.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  thing  which  I 


28  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

should  be  afraid  to  do,  if  it  were  the  last  hour  of 
my  life. 

"8.  Resolved,  To  act,  in  all  respects,  both 
speaking  and  doing,  as  if  nobody  had  been  so 
vile  as  I,  and  as  if  I  had  committed  the  same  sins, 
or  had  the  same  infirmities  or  failings  as  others ; 
and  that  I  will  let  the  knowledge  of  their  failings 
promote  nothing  but  shame  in  myself,  and  prove 
only  an  occasion  of  my  confessing  my  own  sins 
and  misery  to  God. 

"9.  Resolved,  To  think  much,  on  all  occa 
sions,  of  my  own  dying,  and  of  the  common  cir 
cumstances  which  attend  death. 

"  10.  Resolved,  When  I  feel  pain,  to  think  of 
the  pains  of  martyrdom  and  of  hell. 

"11.  Resolved,  When  I  think  of  any  theorem 
in  divinity  to  be  solved,  immediately  to  do  what 
I  can  towards  solving  it,  if  circumstances  do  not 
hinder. 

"  12.  Resolved,  If  I  take  delight  in  it  as  a 
gratification  of  pride  or  vanity,  or  on  any  such 
account,  immediately  to  throw  it  by. 

"  13.  Resolved,  To  be  endeavoring  to  find  out 
fit  objects  of  charity  and  liberality. 

"  14.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  thing  out  of 
revenge. 

"  15.  Resolved,  Never  to  suffer  the  least  mo 
tions  of  anger  towards  irrational  beings. 

"16.  Resolved,  Never  to  speak  evil  of  any  one 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  29 

so  that  it  shall  tend  to  his  dishonor,  more  or  less 
upon  no  account,  except  for  some  real  good. 

"  17.  Resolved,  That  I  will  live  so,  as  I  shaU 
wish  I  had  done  when  I  come  to  die. 

"  18.  Resolved,  To  live  so  at  all  times,  as  J 
think  it  best,  in  my  most  devout  frames,  and  when 
I  have  the  clearest  notion  of  the  things  of  tht? 
gospel  and  another  world. 

"  19.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  thing  whicl 
I  should  be  afraid  to  do,  if  I  expected  it  wouk 
not  be  above  an  hour  before  I  should  hear  the  last 
trump. 

"  20.  Resolved,  To  maintain  the  strictest  tem 
perance  in  eating  and  drinking. 

"21.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  thing,  which, 
if  I  should  see  in  another,  I  should  account  a  just 
occasion  to  despise  him  for,  or  to  think  any  way 
the  more  meanly  of  him. 

"  22.  Resolved,  To  endeavor  to  obtain  for  my 
self  as  much  happiness  in  the  other  world,  as  I 
possibly  can,  with  all  the  might,  power,  vigor,  and 
vehemence,  yea,  violence,  1  am  capable  of,  or 
can  bring  myself  to  exert,  in  any  way  that  can 
be  thought  of. 

"  23.  Resolved,  Frequently  to  take  some  de- 
I.berate  action,  which  seems  most  unlikely  to  be 
done  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  trace  it  back  to 
the  original  intention,  designs,  and  ends  of  it ;  and, 
if  I  find  it  not  to  be  for  God's  glory,  to  repute  i 
as  a  breach  of  the  fourth  resolution. 


30  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

"  24.  Resolved,  Whenever  I  do  any  conspicu 
ously  evil  action,  to  trace  it  back  till  I  come  to 
the  original  cause  ;  and  then,  both  carefully  to 
endeavor  to  do  so  no  more,  and  to  fight  and  pray 
with  all  my  might  against  the  original  of  it. 

44  25.  Resolved,  To  examine  carefully  and  con 
stantly  what  that  one  thing  in  me  is,  which  causes 
me  in  the  least  to  doubt  of  the  love  of  God ;  and 
to  direct  all  my  forces  against  it. 

"26.  Resolved,  To  cast  away  such  things  as 
I  find  do  abate  my  assurance. 

"  27.  Resolved,  Never  wilfully  to  omit  any 
thing,  except  the  omission  be  for  the  glory  of 
God  ;  and  frequently  to  examine  my  omissions. 

"  28.  Resolved,  To  study  the  Scriptures  so 
steadily,  constantly,  and  frequently,  as  that  I  may 
find,  and  plainly  perceive  myself  to  grow  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  same. 

"  29.  Resolved,  Never  to  count  that  a  prayer, 
nor  to  let  that  pass  as  a  prayer,  nor  that  as  a  peti 
tion  of  a  prayer,  which  is  so  made,  that  I  cannot 
hope  that  God  will  answer  it ;  nor  that  as  a  con 
fession,  which  I  cannot  hope  God  will  accept. 

"  30.  Resolved,  To  strive  every  week  to  be 
brought  higher  in  religion,  and  to  a  higher  exer 
cise  of  grace  than  I  was  the  week  before. 

"31.  Resolved,  Never  to  say  any  thing  at  all 
against  anybody,  but  when  it  is  perfectly  agree 
able  to  the  highest  degree  of  Christian  honor,  and 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  31 

of  love  to  mankind ;  agreeable  to  the  lowest  hu 
mility  and  sense  of  my  own  faults  and  failings;  and 
agreeable  to  the  Golden  Rule  ;  often  when  I  have 
said  any  thing  against  any  one,  to  bring  it  to,  and 
try  it  strictly  by,  the  test  of  this  resolution. 

"  32.  Resolved,  To  be  strictly  and  firmly  faith 
ful  to  my  trust,  that  that  in  Proverbs,  xx.  6,  A 
faithful  man,  who  can  find  1  may  not  be  partly 
fulfilled  in  me. 

"  33.  Resolved,  To  do  always  towards  making, 
maintaining,  and  preserving  peace,  when  it  can  be 
done  without  an  overbalancing  detriment  in  other 
respects. 

"  34.  Resolved,  In  narrations,  never  to  speak 
any  thing  but  the  pure  and  simple  verity. 

"  35.  Resolved,  Whenever  I  so  much  question 
whether  I  have  done  my  duty,  as  that  my  quiet 
and  calm  is  thereby  disturbed,  to  set  it  down,  and 
also  how  the  question  was  resolved. 

'C36.  Resolved,  Never  to  speak  evil  of  any, 
except  I  have  some  particular  good  call  to  it. 

"  37.  Resolved,  To  inquire  every  night,  as  I 
am  going  to  bed,  wherein  I  have  been  negligent ; 
what  sin  I  have  committed ;  and,  wherein  I  have 
denied  myself.  Also  at  the  end  of  every  week, 
month,  and  year. 

"  38.  Resolved,  Never  to  utter  any  thing  thai 
is  sportive,  or  matter  of  laughter,  on  a  Lord's 
day. 


82  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

"  39.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  thing  ot 
which  I  so  much  question  the  lawfulness,  as  that 
I  intend  at  the  same  time  to  consider  and  examine 
afterwards  whether  it  be  lawful  or  ncit,  unless  I  a& 
much  question  the  lawfulness  of  the  omission. 

"  40.  Resolved,  To  inquire  every  night  before 
I  go  to  bed,  whether  I  have  acted  in  the  best 
way  I  possibly  could  with  respect  to  eating  and 
drinking. 

"41.  Resolved,  To  ask  myselt,  at  the  end  of 
every  day,  week,  month,  and  year,  wherein  1 
could  possibly,  in  any  respect,  have  done  better. 

"  42.  Resolved,  Frequently  to  renew  the  dedi 
cation  of  myself  to  God,  which  was  made  at  my 
baptism ;  which  I  solemnly  renewed  when  I  was 
received  into  the  communion  of  the  church  ;  and 
which  I  have  solemnly  remade  this  12th  day  of 
January,  1723. 

"  43.  Resolved,  Never,  henceforward,  till  I  die, 
to  act  as  if  I  were  any  way  my  own,  but  entirely 
and  altogether  God's  ;  agreeably  to  what  is  to  be 
found  in  Saturday,  January  12th,  1723. 

"  44.  Resolved,  That  no  other  end  but  religion 
shall  have  any  influence  at  all  on  any  of  my  ac 
tions  ;  and  that  no  action  shall  be,  in  the  least 
circumstance,  any  otherwise  than  the  religious  end 
will  carry  it. 

"45.  Resolved,  Never  to  allow  any  pleasure 
or  grief,  joy  or  sorrow,  nor  any  affection  at  all,  noi 


EDWARDS.  33 

any  degree  of  affection,  nor  any  circumstance  re 
lating  to  it,  but  what  helps  religion. 

"  46.  Resolved,  Never  to  allow  the  least  meas 
ure  of  fretting  or  uneasiness  at  my  fatner  or  moth 
er.  Resolved,  to  suffer  no  effects  of  it,  so  much 
as  in  the  least  alteration  of  speech,  or  motion  of 
my  eye  ;  and  to  be  especially  careful  of  it  w'th 
respect  to  any  of  our  family. 

"47.  Resolved,  To  endeavor,  to  my  utmost, 
to  deny  whatever  is  not  most  agreeable  to  a  good 
and  universally  sweet  and  benevolent,  quiet,  peace 
able,  contented  and  easy,  compassionate  and  gen 
erous,  humble  and  meek,  submissive  and  obliging, 
diligent  and  industrious,  charitable  and  even,  pa 
tient,  moderate,  forgiving,  and  sincere  temper;  and 
to  do,  at  all  times,  what  such  a  temper  would  lead 
me  to,  and  to  examine,  strictly,  at  the  end  of 
every  week,  whether  I  have  so  done. 

"  48.  Resolved,  Constantly,  with  the  utmost 
niceness  and  diligence,  and  the  strictest  scrutiny, 
to  be  looking  into  the  state  of  my  soul,  that  I 
may  know  whether  I  have  truly  an  interest  in 
Christ  or  not ;  that,  when  I  come  to  die,  I  may 
not  have  any  negligence  respecting  this,  to  re 
pent  of. 

"  49.  Resolved,  That  this  shall  never  be,  if  I 
can  help  it. 

"  50.  Resolved,  That  I  will  act  so,  as  I  think 

I.— 3 


34  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

I  shall  judge  would  have  been  best  and  most 
prudent,  when  I  come  into  the  future  world. 

"51.  Resolved,  That  I  will  act  so,  in  every 
respect,  as  I  think  I  shall  wish  I  had  done,  if  I 
should  at  last  be  damned. 

((  52.  I  frequently  hear  persons  in  old  age  sa) 
how  they  would  live,  if  they  were  to  live  thei" 
lives  over  again.  Resolved,  that  I  will  live  ju?1 
so  as  I  can  think  I  shall  wish  I  had  done,  sup 
posing  I  live  to  old  age. 

"53.  Resolved,  To  improve  every  opportunity, 
when  I  am  in  the  best  and  happiest  frame  of 
mind,  to  cast  and  venture  my  soul  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  to  trust  and  confide  in  him,  and 
consecrate  myself  wholly  to  him  ;  that  from  this 
I  may  have  assurance  of  my  safety,  knowing  that 
[  confide  in  my  Redeemer. 

"  54.  Resolved,  Whenever  I  hear  any  thing 
spoken  in  commendation  of  any  person,  if  I  think 
it  would  be  praiseworthy  in  me,  that  I  will  en 
deavor  to  imitate  it. 

"  55.  Resolved,  To  endeavor,  to  my  utmost, 
so  to  act  as  I  can  think  I  should  do,  if  I  had 
already  seen  the  happiness  of  heaven,  and  hell 
torments. 

"  56.  Resolved,  Never  to  give  over,  nor  in  the 
least  to  slacken,  my  fight  with  my  corruptions, 
however  unsuccessful  I  may  be. 

"  57.  Resolved,  When  I  fear  misfortunes  and 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  35 

adversity,  to  examine  whether  I  have  done  my 
duty,  and  resolve  to  do  it,  and  let  the  event  be 
just  as  Providence  orders  it.  I  will,  as  far  as  I 
can,  be  concerned  about  nothing  but  my  duty  and 
my  sin. 

"  58.  Resolved,  Not  only  to  refrain  from  an 
air  of  dislike,  fretfulness,  and  anger  in  conversa 
tion  ;  but  to  exhibit  an  air  of  love,  cheerfulness, 
and  benignity. 

"  59.  Resolved,  When  I  am  most  conscious  of 
provocations  to  ill-nature  and  anger,  that  I  will 
strive  most  to  feel  and  act  good-naturedly ;  yea, 
at  such  times  to  manifest  good-nature,  though  I 
think  that  in  other  respects  it  would  be  disadvan 
tageous,  and  so  as  would  be  imprudent  at  other 
times. 

"  60.  Resolved,  Whenever  my  feelings  begin 
to  appear  in  the  least  out  of  order,  when  I  am 
conscious  of  the  least  uneasiness  within,  or  the 
least  irregularity  without,  I  will  then  subject  my 
self  to  the  strictest  examination. 

"61.  Resolved,  That  I  will  not  give  way  to 
that  listlessness  which  I  find  unbends  and  relaxes 
my  mind  from  being  fully  and  fixedly  set  on  re 
ligion,  whatever  excuse  I  may  have  for  it ;  that 
what  my  listlessness  inclines  me  to  do,  is  best  to 
be  done,  &c. 

"  62.  Resolved,  Never  to  do  any  thing  but  my 
duty,  and  then,  according  to  Ephesians  vi.  6  —  8 


36  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

to  do  it  willingly  and  cheerfully,  as  unto  the  Lord, 
and  not  to  man ;  knowing,  that  whatever  good  any 
man  doth,  the  same  shall  he  receive  of  the  Lord. 

"  63.  On  the  supposition  that  there  never  was 
to  be  but  one  individual  in  the  world  at  any  one 
time  who  was  properly  a  complete  Christian,  in 
all  respects  of  a  right  stamp,  having  Christianity 
always  shining  in  its  true  lustre,  and  appearing  ex 
cellent  and  lovely,  from  whatever  part,  and  under 
whatever  character  viewed  ;  —  Resolved,  to  act 
just  as  I  would  do,  if  I  strove  with  all  my  might 
to  be  that  one,  who  should  live  in  my  time. 

"64.  Resolved,  When  I  find  those  'groan- 
ings  which  cannot  be  uttered,'  of  which  the 
Apostle  speaks,  and  those  '  breakings  of  soul 
for  the  longing  it  hath,'  of  which  the  Psalmist 
speaks,  Psalm  cxix.  20,  that  I  will  promote  them 
to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  and  that  I  will  not 
be  weary  of  earnestly  endeavoring  to  vent  my 
desires,  nor  of  the  repetitions  of  such  earnest 
ness. 

"  65.  Resolved,  Very  much  to  exercise  mysell 
in  this,  ill  my  life  long,  namely,  with  the  greatest 
openness  of  which  I  am  capable,  to  declare  my 
ways  to  God,  and  lay  open  my  soul  to  him,  all 
my  sins,  temptations,  difficulties,  sorrows,  fears, 
hopes,  desires,  and  every  thing,  and  every  cir 
cumstance,  according  to  Dr.  Man  ton's  Sermon  on 
the  11 9th  Psalm 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  37 

"66.  Resolved,  That  I  will   endeavor  always 
co  keep  a  benign  aspect,  and   air  of  acting  and 
speaking,  in  all  places  and  in  all  companies,  ex 
cept  it  should  so  happen  that  duty  requires  other 
wise. 

"67.  Resolved,  After  afflictions,  to  inquire, 
What  am  I  the  better  for  them?  what  good  I 
have  got  by  them,  and  what  I  might  have  got  by 
them? 

"  68.  Resolved,  To  confess  frankly  to  myseL 
all  that  which  I  find  in  myself,  either  infirmity  01 
sin ;  and,  if  it  be  what  concerns  religion,  also  to 
confess  the  whole  case  to  God,  and  implore  need 
ed  help. 

"  69.  Resolved,  Always  to  do  that  which  I 
shall  wish  I  had  done,  when  I  see  others  do  it. 

"  70.  Let  there  be  something  of  benevolence 
in  all  that  I  speak." 

A  number  of  these  resolutions  have  been  so 
often  repeated  and  adopted  by  eminent  men  since 
the  days  of  Edwards,  and  are,  on  this  account,  so 
familiar  to  the  minds  of  intelligent  readers,  that 
their  real  character  and  bearing,  as  formed  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago  by  an  inexperienced 
youth  under  twenty  years  of  age,  who,  perhaps, 
had  rarely  seen  such  a  code,  or  any  thing  like 
it  before,  are  seldom  adequately  appreciated.  We 
cannot  help  pausing  again  to  direct  the  reader's 
attention  to  them,  as  evincing  a  depth  of  prao 


38  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

tical  wisdom ;  a  delicacy  and  strength  of  consci 
entiousness ;  an  honesty  of  desire  to  kr  ow  and 
correct  his  own  infirmities  ;  a  firmness  and  con 
stuncy  of  religious  purpose ;  a  moral  purity  and 
elevation,  and  an  habitual  spirituality  of  mind, 
which  are  peculiarly  worthy  of  being  sought  by 
every  young  man  who  wishes  to  act  a  part  corre 
sponding  with  his  rational  and  immortal  nature, 
and  from  which  the  most  advanced  and  devoted 
Christian  may  derive  profit.  There  is  indeed  in 
them,  not  merely  a  specimen  of  moral  purity, 
but  of  the  moral  sublime,  as  beautiful  as  it  is 
touching. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1723,  Mr.  Ed 
wards  attended  the  Commencement  of  Yale 
College,  and  received  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts.  At  the  same  time  he  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  tutor  in  that  institution.  But,  as  it  was 
not  necessary  that  he  should  enter  on  the  dis 
charge  of  the  duties  of  that  office  for  a  number 
of  months,  he  passed  the  succeeding  winter  and 
spring  at  New  Haven,  in  diligent  theological  study. 
During  this  time,  he  was  invited  by  several  con 
gregations  to  undertake  the  pastoral  office  over 
them ;  but,  sensible  of  the  importance  of  more 
mature  and  enlarged  knowledge,  he  declined  all 
those  invitations,  contented  himself  with  the  occa 
sional  exercise  of  his  pulpit  talents,  and  directed 
his  mind  with  ardor  to  writing  and  reading  on 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  39 

professional  subjects,  until  the  following  June. 
Here  is  another  evidence  of  an  enlarged  and 
elevated  mind.  He  "magnified"  the  importance 
and  responsibility  of  the  office  which  he  sought. 
Many  a  young  man,  since,  as  well  as  before  his 
time,  of  narrow  views  and  crude  knowledge,  has 
rushed  into  the  pastoral  office  with  scarcely  any 
of  that  furniture  which  enables  the  shepherd  of 
souls  "rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth";  but 
JONATHAN  EDWARDS,  with  a  mind  of  superior 
grasp  and  penetration,  and  with  attainments  al 
ready  greater  than  common,  did  not  think  three 
fall  years  of  diligent  professional  study  enough  to 
prepare  him  for  thi:>  arduous  work.  He  could 
not  prevail  on  himself  to  accept  a  pastoral  charge, 
until,  after  his  collegiate  graduation,  he  had  de 
voted  six  years  to  close  and  appropriate  study 
A  similar  estimate  on  the  same  subject  was  formed 
long  before  by  a  kindred  mind.  John  Calvin, 
after  he  had  published  the  first  edition  of  his  "  In 
stitutions  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  that  wonder 
ful  monument  of  learning,  piety,  and  talents,  did 
not  consider  himself  as  sufficiently  mature  in 
knowledge  to  undertake  the  pastoral  office,  and 
was  on  his  way  to  Strasburg,  for  the  purpose  of 
further  pursuing  his  studies,  when  he  was  con 
strained,  by  irresistible  importunity,  to  stop  at 
Geneva,  and  there  give  his  aid  to  the  friends  of 
the  Reformation.  When  will  young  men,  un- 


40  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

speakably  inferior  to  these  master-minds,  both  in 
capacity  and  attainment,  learn  to  resist  that  spirit 
of  superficial,  presumptuous  haste,  which  is  hur 
rying  them  prematurely  into  the  pulpit,  and  bur 
dening  the  church,  to  a  lamentable  extent,  with 
"  blind  leaders  of  the  blind  "  ? 

In  the  month  of  June,  1724,  Mr.  Edwards 
commenced  his  actual  attention  to  the  duties  of 
a  tutor  in  Yale  College.  It  has  been  already 
mentioned,  that  during  his  connexion  with  the 
college  as  an  undergraduate,  the  state  of  the  in 
stitution  was  far  from  tranquil  or  flourishing.  The 
period  of  his  residence  in  it  as  a  tutor  was  marked 
with  new  and  serious  difficulties.  From  January, 
1721,  to  the  Commencement  in  1722,  the  stu 
dents  were,  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  in  a  state 
of  the  most  distressing  insubordination  and  dis 
order.  At  the  Commencement  in  1722,  the  Rev 
erend  Mr.  Cutler,  the  rector,  and  one  of  the 
tutors,  declared  themselves  converts  to  Episco 
pacy.  This  declaration  resulted  in  their  imme 
diate  removal  from  office ;  and  the  college  was 
for  four  years  without  a  presiding  head. 

In  this  exigency,  each  of  the  trustees  agreed  to 
act  as  vice-rector,  for  a  month  in  turn ;  and  the 
instruction  of  the  classes,  and  the  details  of  gov 
ernment,  were  devolved  almost  entirely  on  the 
tutors.  It  was  happy  for  the  college,  that,  in 
these  circumstances,  t.hev  had  tutors  of  such  rare 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  41 

accomplishments  as  were  those  of  young  Edwards 
and  his  colleagues.  The  singular  union  in  Mr. 
Edwards,  of  gravity,  dignity,  fine  talents,  accurate 
scholarship,  eminent  piety,  and  remarkably  gentle 
and  respectful  manners,  could  scarcely  fail  of  con 
ciliating  the  respect  and  attachment  of  a  body  of 
students.  His  colleagues  seem  in  some  degree  to 
have  resembled  him.  Under  their  administration, 
the  institution  might  really  be  said  to  flourish. 
President  Stiles  pronounced  them  "  the  pillar  tu 
tors,  and  the  glory  of  the  college  at  the  critical 
period  "  under  consideration. 

It  is  the  remark  of  Lord  Bacon,  that  "  reading 
makes  a  full  man ;  conversation  a  ready  man ; 
and  writing  an  exact  man."  He  might  have 
added,  that  teaching  includes,  and  has  a  ten 
dency  to  extend  and  rivet,  the  advantages  of  all 
three.  It  is  wonderful  that  young  men,  who 
prize  accurate  and  digested  knowledge,  do  not 
more  generally  appreciate  the  value,  as  a  mental 
discipline,  of  engaging  in  the  business  of  instruc 
tion.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  young  Edwards 
derived  essential  advantage  from  filling  the  office 
of  tutor  for  more  than  two  years.  True,  it  inter 
rupted,  in  a  considerable  degree,  his  professional 
studies  ;  and  he  appears  to  have  thought  that  it 
interfered  not  a  little  with  his  comfort,  and  es 
pecially  with  his  progress,  in  religion.  But  that 
this  employment  served  to  arrange  and  digest 


42  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

his  knowledge  ;  that  it  contributed  to  enlarge  his 
views  both  in  literature  and  science,  and  to  render 
those  views  more  systematic  and  practical ;  that 
it  aided  him  in  the  work  of  professional  instruc 
tion  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  and  that  it  imparted  to 
his  whole  character  more  of  that  firmness,  energy, 
skill  in  managing  minds,  and  self-confidence,  which 
were  of  essential  use  to  him  in  after-life,  none 
will,  for  a  moment,  doubt. 

And,  even  with  respect  to  his  growth  in  grace, 
his  occupations  as  tutor,  if  they  served  to  diminish 
his  opportunities  for  tranquil  and  devout  retire 
ment,  were  well  adapted  to  show  the  need  of  re 
ligion  ;  to  exemplify  the  power  of  religion ;  and 
to  prepare  him  to  return  to  his  former  privileges 
with  more  zeal  and  real  enjoyment.  Nay,  more  ; 
when  a  tree  is  advancing  toward  maturity,  it  is 
no  doub*  benefited  by  calm  seasons  and  genial 
weather.  But  even  the  wind  and  the  storm,  with 
all  their  untoward  appearances,  are  means  of  bene 
fit,  by  causing  it  to  take  deeper  root,  and  to  be 
come  more  firmly  fixed  in  the  soil.  So  the  un 
wearied  labor  and  the  continual  anxiety  of  a 
college  officer,  situated  as  was  young  Edwards, 
had  a  tendency  to  ripen  his  spiritual  judgment, 
to  confirm  his  religious  principles,  and  to  give 
the  whole  man  a  more  steadfast,  rooted,  and  de 
termined  character. 

In  the  course  of  the  second  year  of  his  tutor- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  43 

ship,  he  was  visited  with  a  severe  attack  of  illness, 
which  confined  him  to  the  house  for  nearly  three 
months.  During  this  illness,  and  especially  in 
the  progress  of  his  recovery  from  it,  he  appears 
tc  have  manifested  the  strength  of  religious  prin 
ciple  and  the  consolations  of  religious  hope  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  as  much  as  at  any  previous  period. 
And  although  he  himself,  as  before  suggested, 
made  a  less  favorable  estimate  of  his  religious 
state  at  this  time,  than  before,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  his  apprehension  was  well  founded  to  any 
serious  extent.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  his 
Diary  about  this  time  was  not  so  full,  and  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  so  punctually  kept  as 
before. 

Mr.  Edwards,  during  his  connexion  with  the 
college  at  New  Haven,  as  well  as  afterwards,  was 
in  the  habit  of  frequently  setting  apart  days  for 
special  prayer  arid  self-examination,  accompanied 
with  fasting.  Nor  did  he  regard  the  duty  of  fast- 
ing  us  some  modern  sciolists  in  religion  affect  to 
consider  it,  as  a  mere  metaphorical  fast,  that  is, 
as  " fasting  in  spirit";  as  only  a  season  of  "special 
abstinence  from  sin."  To  act  upon  this  principle 
is  solemn  mockery.  It  is  setting  at  nought  all 
the  representations  of  this  duty,  either  by  precept 
or  example,  in  the  word  of  God,  or  in  the  ex 
ample  of  the  most  eminently  godly  men  in  all 
ages.  Just  as  well  might  men  talk  of  paying 


44  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

their  debts  in   spirit,  or  of  performing  deeds  of 
charity  only   in  spirit.     Mr.  Edwards  considered 
literal  abstinence  from  food,  either  entire  or  par 
tial,  according  to  the  state  of  his  health  and  other 
circumstances,  as  essentially  included  in  this  duty 

Generally  on  these  days,  the  state  of  his  mind, 
as  recorded  in  his  Diary,  seems  to  have  borne  a 
very  marked  character.  The  following  extracts 
from  that  record  will  serve  to  show,  that  there  was 
no  real  decline,  at  the  time  of  its  date,  in  his  deep 
moral  sensibility,  his  sacred  and  delicate  conscien 
tiousness,  and  his  ardent  desire  to  mortify  all  sin, 
and  to  grow  in  every  grace  and  virtue. 

"  Friday  night,  October  1th,  1723.  I  see 
there  are  some  things  quite  contrary  to  the  sound 
ness  and  perfection  of  Christianity,  in  which  al 
most  all  good  men  do  allow  themselves,  and  where 
innate  corruption  has  an  unrestrained,  secret  vent, 
which  they  never  take  notice  of,  or  think  to  be 
no  hurt,  or  cloak  under  the  name  of  virtue ;  which 
things  exceedingly  darken  the  brightness,  and  hide 
the  loveliness,  of  Christianity.  Who  can  under 
stand  his  errors  ?  Oh  that  I  might  be  kept  from 
secret  faults ! " 

"  Thursday,  October  18th.  To  follow  the  ex 
ample  of  Mr.  B.,  who,  though  he  meets  with 
great  difficulties,  yet  undertakes  them  with  a  smil 
ing  countenance,  as  though  he  thought  them  but 
little,  and  speaks  of  them  as  if  they  were  very 
imall." 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  45 

u  Tuesday  night,  December  3lst.  Concluded 
never  to  suffer,  nor  express,  any  angry  emotions 
of  mind,  more  or  less,  except  the  honor  of  God 
calls  for  it  in  zeal  to  him,  or  to  preserve  myselt 
from  being  trampled  on." 

"  Monday,  February  3d,  1724.  Let  every  thing 
have  the  value  now  which  it  will  have  on  a  sick 
bed ;  and  frequently,  in  my  pursuits,  of  whatever 
kind,  let  this  question  come  into  my  mind,  How 
much  shall  I  value  this  on  my  death-bed  ?  " 

"  Wednesday,  February  5th.  I  have  not,  in 
times  past,  in  my  prayers,  enough  insisted  on  the 
glorifying  of  God  in  the  world ;  on  the  advance 
ment  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  the  prosperity  of 
the  church,  and  the  good  of  man.  Determined, 
that  the  following  objection  is  without  weight, 
namely  ;  that  it  is  not  likely  that  God  will  make 
great  alterations  in  the  whole  world,  and  over- 
turnings  in  kingdoms  and  nations,  only  for  the 
prayers  of  one  obscure  person,  seeing  such  things 
used  to  be  done  in  answer  to  the  united  prayers 
of  the  whole  church ;  and  that,  if  my  prayers 
should  have  some  influence,  it  would  be  but  im 
perceptible  and  small." 

"  Thursday,  February  6th.  More  convinced 
than  ever  of  the  usefulness  of  free  religious  con 
versation.  I  find  by  conversing  on  natural  phi 
losophy,  that  I  gain  knowledge  abundantly  faster, 
tnd  see  the  reason  of  things  much  more  clearly, 


46  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHT. 

than  in  private  study ;  wherefore,  earnestly  to 
seek,  at  all  times,  for  religious  conversation  ;  and 
for  those  with  whom  1  can,  at  all  times,  with  profit 
and  delight,  and  with  freedom,  so  converse. 

"  Saturday,  February  2%d.  I  observe,  that 
there  are  some  evil  habits  which  do  increase  and 
grow  stronger,  even  in  some  good  people,  as  they 
grow  older;  habits  that  much  obscure  the  beauty 
of  Christianity ;  some  things  which  are  according 
to  their  natural  tempers,  which,  in  some  measure, 
prevails  when  they  are  young  in  Christ,  and,  the 
evil  disposition  having  an  unobserved  control,  the 
habit  at  last  grows  very  strong,  and  commonly 
regulates  the  practice  until  death.  By  this  means, 
old  Christians  are  very  commonly,  in  some  re 
spects,  more  unreasonable  than  those  who  are 
young.  I  am  afraid  of  contracting  such  habits, 
particularly  of  grudging  to  give,  and  to  do,  and 
of  procrastinating." 

"  Tuesday,  July  7th.  When  I  am  giving  the 
relation  of  a  thing,  remember  to  abstain  from  al 
tering,  either  in  the  matter  or  manner  of  speaking, 
so  much  as  that,  if  every  one,  afterwards,  should 
alter  as  much,  it  would  at  last  come  to  be  properly 
false." 

"  Tuesday,  February  10th,  1725.  A  virtue 
which  I  need  in  a  higher  degree,  to  give  lustre 
and  beauty  to  my  behavior,  is  gentleness.  If  I 
had  more  of  an  air  of  gentleness,  I  should  be 
much  mended." 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS,  47 

'''-June  llth.  To  set  apart  days  of  meditation 
on  particular  subjects  ;  as,  sometimes,  to  set  apart 
a  day  for  the  consideration  of  the  greatness  of  my 
sins  ;  at  ano*.her,  to  consider  the  dreadfulness  and 
certainty  of  the  future  misery  of  ungodly  men ;  at 
another,  the  truth  and  certainty  of  religion;  and 
so  of  the  great  future  things  promised  and  threat 
ened  in  the  Scriptures." 

The  last  extract  deserves  particular  notice,  inas 
much  as  it  illustrates,  in  a  very  striking  manner, 
one  of  the  great  peculiarities  of  the  character  of 
Edwards.  He  was  unwilling,  even  at  this  early 
age,  to  do  any  thing  slightly  or  superficially.  His 
object  seems  to  have  been  to  go  to  the  bottom  of 
every  subject  that  he  touched  ;  and,  above  all,  did 
he  manifest  this  with  respect  to  sacred  things. 

It  is  supposed  that  most  pious  men,  and  even 
those  who  are  fervently  pious,  in  setting  apart 
days  for  special  devotion,  are  wont  to  comprehend 
among  the  objects  of  their  serious  consideration  a 
variety  of  topics,  such  as  their  sins,  their  mercies, 
their  duties,  their  failures,  their  prospects,  and  all 
in  the  same  exercise.  No  doubt  this  compre 
hensive  plan  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  at  all  times 
proper.  But  the  subject  of  this  memoir  seems 
to  have  found  it  for  his  edification,  at  least  on 
some  occasions,  to  select  seasons  of  special  retire 
ment  and  devotion  for  dwelling  on  particular  sub 
jects  with  peculiar  ser'ousness,  and  in  a  more 


48  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

thorough  and  extended  manner  than  usual.  He 
would  labor  for  hours  to  keep  a  given  subject,  or 
class  of  subjects,  before  his  mind,  and  to  enter 
into  them  as  deeply  and  extensively  as  possible, 
until  his  own  mind  was  deeply  affected  by  them. 

One  of  the  greatest  defects  of  most  pious  men, 
and  of  most  intellectual  men,  is  the  want  of  the 
power  and  the  habit  of  continuous  meditation. 

No  one  was  ever  eminently  devout,  or  emi 
nently  successful  in  the  work  of  investigation,  who 
had  not,  in  some  good  degree,  attained  this  im 
portant  habit.  To  be  able  to  look  at  a  subject 
closely,  with  fixed  attention,  and  for  a  considerable 
time  together,  is  essential  to  the  art  of  conversing 
deeply  with  our  own  hearts,  or  examining  any  im 
portant  question  in  the  most  profound  and  happy 
manner.  This  precious  art  Edwards  diligently 
cultivated,  and  to  a  very  unusual  degree  attained ; 
and  the  benefit  of  it  was  abundantly  manifest,  both 
in  the  depth  of  his  piety,  and  the  distinguished 
success  of  his  moral  and  theological  investigations. 

As  he  strove  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  every  sub 
ject  in  his  intellectual  inquiries,  so  he  seems  es 
pecially  to  have  resolved  to  be  superficial  in  noth 
ing  pertaining  to  the  duties  of  the  closet.  He 
was  willing  to  take  time  for  meditation,  as  well  as 
for  prayer  ;  to  dwell  on  important  subjects  bearing 
on  the  religion  of  the  heart,  until  he,  in  some 
measure,  grasped  the  length  and  breadth,  and 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  49 

depth  and  height,  of  their  real  character,  and 
until  his  mind  was,  in  some  good  degree,  affected 
with  their  practical  importance.  There  are  few 
points  in  the  history  of  this  great  man  more  wor 
thy  of  being  closely  studied  and  diligently  imi 
tated.  There  is  perhaps  scarcely  any  defect, 
which  more  lamentably  cleaves  to  the  habits,  the 
attainments,  and  the  efforts  of  even  good  men, 
than  that  of  superficiality.  In  scholarship,  in 
theological  furniture,  in  practical  piety,  in  the 
duties  of  devotion,  and  in  benevolent  enterprise, 
few  things  seem  to  be  more  needed  than  going 
to  work,  in  every  thing,  in  that  thorough  manner, 
which  characterized  the  excellent  subject  of  this 
memoir.  He  seemed  to  feel  in  every  thing,  in 
searching  his  own  heart  as  well  as  in  investigating 
truth,  or  in  any  way  attempting  to  benefit  his 
fellow-men,  that  he  was  acting  for  eternity. 


50  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER  III. 

His  Settlement  as  a   Pastor  at  Northampton.  — 
Ministerial    Habits.  —  Marriage*  —  His  first 
Publication  —  Ministerial  Success.  —  Second 
and  third  Publications.  —  His  European  Cor 
respondence 

DURING  the  summer  of  1726,  when  Mr.  Ed 
wards  had  held  the  office  of  tutor  for  a  little  more 
than  two  years,  he  received  a  pressing  invitation 
to  undertake  the  pastoral  office  at  Northampton, 
as  a  colleague  to  his  grandfather,  the  Reverend 
Solomon  Stoddard,  who  had  been  for  more  than 
half  a  century  the  highly  venerated  and  beloved 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  that  town. 
The  people  of  Northampton  were  of  course  well 
acquainted  with  the  character  and  standing  of 
their  pastor's  grandson,  and  earnestly  desired  to 
obtain  his  services.  Their  pastor  was  warmly 
attached  to  the  promising  youth  by  the  joint  ties 
of  consanguinity  and  high  esteem,  arid  was  no  tass 
desirous  of  receiving  him  as  a  colleague.  And 
Mr.  Edwards,  on  his  part,  had  been,  on  a  variety 
of  accounts,  long  attached  to  the  people  and  the 
place,  and  was  predisposed  to  regard  with  favor 
their  proposals  He  accepted  their  call ;  and  on 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  51 

the  15th  day  of  February,  1727,  in  the  twenty 
fourth   year   of  his  age,  he  was  ordained  to  the 
work  of  the   gospel   ministry,   and   installed  co- 
pastor  of  the  church  of  Northampton. 

Here  his  ministrations  were  highly  acceptable, 
and  his  external  situation  at  least  such  as  promised 
an  unusual  amount  of  ministerial  comfort.  Located 
in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  towns  in  New  Eng 
land,  connected  with  a  people  more  than  com 
monly  intelligent  and  polished,  and  united  in  the 
pastoral  relation  with  one  on  every  account  so 
beloved  and  venerated,  there  seemed  to  be  no 
outward  circumstance  wanting  to  render  his  situa 
tion  pleasant  and  promising.  In  one  respect,  in 
deed,  and  that  the  most  important,  the  town  was 
by  no  means  prosperous.  The  state  of  religion 
was  low.  The  church,  it  is  true,  during  Mr. 
Stoddard's  ministry,  had  been  blessed  with  several 
extensive  and  powerful  revivals  of  religion,  in  the 
course  of  which,  large  additions  had  been  made 
to  their  numbers.  But  for  some  time  before  Mr. 
Edwards's  settlement  among  them,  their  spiritual 
condition  had  been  by  no  means  favorable  ;  and 
the  greatly  advanced  age  of  Mr.  Stoddard  forbade 
the  hope  of  his  being  much  longer  useful  among 
them. 

Mr.  Edwards  addressed  himself  to  his  ministry 
m  Northampton,  with  all  that  seriousness  and  dili 
gence  which  might  have  been  expected  from  a 


52  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

man  so  well  furnished  for  his  work,  and  so  deeply 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  its  importance.  He 
resumed  those  habits  of  close  study  which  had 
distinguished  him  almost  from  his  infancy.  He 
did  not  content  himself  with  constant  and  careful 
preparation  for  the  pulpit,  but  spent  a  large  por 
tion  of  each  week  in  the  diligent  study  of  the 
original  Scriptures,  and  in  theological  investiga 
tion  on  the  most  extended  scale.  He  also  con 
tinued,  or  rather  now  employed  to  a  greater  ex 
tent  than  ever,  the  habit  of  studying  with  pen 
in  hand  ;  making  notes  on  every  book  which  he 
studied ;  recording  his  thoughts  on  every  impor 
tant  subject  which  came  before  his  mind;  and 
daily  adding  to  that  mass  of  manuscripts  which 
he  began  to  form  several  years  before,  and  which 
now  accumulated  more  rapidly  under  his  hands. 

His  habit  was,  when  in  his  ordinary  health,  to 
spend  thirteen  hours  every  day  in  his  study.  His 
ordinary  health  was,  indeed,  extremely  delicate  ; 
and  to  maintain  it  in  tolerable  comfort  required 
unceasing  care.  Nor  would  it  have  been  possible 
for  him  to  sustain  the  amount  of  study  which  has 
been  stated,  had  not  his  daily  attention  to  bodily 
exercise,  his  system  of  vigilant  abstemiousness  in 
eating  and  drinking,  and  his  constant  regard  to  all 
the  means  of  bodily  and  mental  relaxation  and 
refreshment  within  his  reach,  been  kept  up  with 
undeviating  punctuality.  All  these  he  maintained 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  53 

with  sacred  care  from  day  to  day,  as  a  religious 
duty 

His  most  favorite  form  of  exercise  seems  to 
have  been  that  of  riding  on  horseback.  And 
even  this,  with  a  sort  of  insatiable  greediness  for 
knowledge,  he  rendered  subservient  to  his  plans 
of  study.  He  would  ride  out  several  miles,  taking 
his  pen  and  ink  and  paper  with  him  ;  and,  alight 
ing  in  some  forest  or  grove,  he  would  meditate  ; 
and,  as  thoughts  which  he  considered  valuable 
occurred  to  him,  he  committed  them  in  a  hasty 
manner  to  writing.  And  even  when  he  was  rid 
ing  along,  if  any  thing  which  he  deemed  worth 
preserving  came  into  his  mind,  he  would  alight, 
take  out  his  writing  apparatus,  and  make  a  memo 
randum  of  it,  sufficiently  intelligible  to  secure  the 
thought  in  a  more  permanent  form  when  he  re 
turned  home.  In  this  manner  he  seldom  returned 
from  a  ride  without  bringing  with  him  hints  and 
suggestions  adapted  to  serve  as  the  basis  of  im 
portant  theological  inquiries,  or  to  throw  light  on 
some  peculiarly  rich  or  difficult  passage  of  holy 
Scripture.  And  if,  in  the  course  of  the  night, 
any  thought  which  he  considered  as  worth  re 
membering  arose  in  his  mind,  he  would  imme 
diately  rise,  light  a  candle,  and  commit  enough 
of  it  to  writing  to  serve  as  a  memorial  of  the 
whole  train,  to  be  afterwards  distinctly  recorded. 

Tn   this  way  did  this  wonderful  man   pass  his 


54  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

time,  employing  every  waking  moment  not  occu 
pied  in  devotion,  either  in  the  eager  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  or  in  imparting  it  to  others  for  their 
temporal  and  eternal  benefit.  "  So  exact  was  the 
distribution  of  his  time,"  says  his  biographer,  "  and 
so  perfect  the  command  of  his  mental  powers, 
that,  in  addition  to  his  preparation  of  two  dis 
courses  in  each  week,  his  stated  and  occasional 
lectures  and  his  customary  pastoral  duties,  he  con 
tinued  regularly  his  "Notes  on  the  Scriptures," 
his  "  Miscellanies,"  his  "  Types  of  the  Messiah," 
and  his  "  Prophecies  of  the  Messiah  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  their  Fulfilment."  Such  were  the 
earlier,  as  well  as  the  later  habits  of  a  man,  who 
was,  probably,  enabled  to  accomplish  more,  not 
only  for  his  cotemporaries,  but  also  for  the  per 
manent  benefit  of  the  church  of  God,  than  any 
other  single  individual  of  our  country,  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  1727,  Mr.  Edwards  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  Pierrepont,  daughter  of  the 
Reverend  James  Pierrepont,  pastor  of  a  church 
in  New  Haven.  Mr.  Pierrepont  was  a  minister 
highly  respectable  for  talents,  usefulness,  and  in 
fluence.  He  was  one  of  the  leading  founders  and 
patrons  of  Yale  College  ;  one  of  its  board  of 
trustees ;  and,  in  the  infant  state  of  the  institution, 
read  lectures  to  the  students,  as  professor  pro  tem- 
vore  of  moral  philosophy.  The  "  Saybrook  Plat" 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  55 

form,"  if  tradition  be  correct,  was  drafted  by  him 
His  father,  John  Pierrepont,  Esquire,  was  a  re 
spectable  gentleman,  a  native  of  England,  who 
migrated  from  that  country  toward  the  close  of 
the  preceding  century,  and  settled  in  Massachu 
setts. 

Perhaps  no  event  of  Mr.  Edwards's  life  had  a 
more  close  connexion  with  his  subsequent  comfort 
and  usefulness  than  this  marriage.  Miss  Pierre 
pont  was  a  lady,  who,  to  much  personal  attraction, 
added  an  unusual  amount  of  those  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities,  which  fit  their  possessor  to  adorn 
the  most  important  stations.  She  had  an  under 
standing  much  above  the  ordinary  grade ;  an  edu 
cation  the  best  that  the  country  afforded ;  fervent, 
enlightened  piety ;  and  an  uncommon  share  of  that 
prudence,  dignity,  and  polish,  which  are  so  pecu 
liarly  valuable  in  the  wife  of  a  pastor.  From  a 
very  early  period  after  their  union,  she  seems  to 
have  taken  on  herself  the  whole  management  of 
her  family,  and  thus  to  have  relieved  her  husband 
from  all  the  anxieties  and  interruptions  of  domestic 
care,  and  left  him  at  liberty  to  pursue  his  studies 
without  remission.  In  short,  he  appears  to  have 
been  completely  relieved  by  her  from  all  secular 
concerns.  Her  wisdom,  energy,  economy,  and 
persevering  industry  enabled  her  to  preside  over 
a  large  family,  and  manage  her  children  with  sin 
gular  felicity,  fidelity,  and  acceptance. 


56  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Iideed,  Mr.  Edwards  was  so  eminently  blessed 
in  the  partner  of  his  life,  that  a  large  share  of  the 
comfortable  health  which  he  enjoyed  with  so  frail 

body,  and  of  the  tranquil,  happy  leisure  with 
which  he  was  favored  for  study,  were  to  be  as 
cribed,  under  God,  to  the  unremitting  care,  skill, 
and  enlightened  assiduity  of  the  best  of  wives, 
who  devoted  herself  to  his  comfort  with  peculiar 
diligence  arid  success.  Nor  were  the  happy  ef 
fects  of  her  eminent  accomplishments  confined  to 
her  own  family.  She  was  highly  popular  among 
the  members  of  his  congregation,  and  established 
an  influence  over  them,  and  especially  with  the 
female  part  of  them,  which  greatly  promoted  the 
interests  of  religion  in  the  parish,  and  which 
proved  an  important  aid  to  him  in  the  discharge 
of  his  pastoral  duties.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate 
how  far  the  domestic  relations  of  the  greatest  and 
best  of  men  may  make  or  mar  their  usefulness. 
Above  all,  none  can  measure  the  importance  of  a 
wise,  pious,  and  prudent  wife  to  a  minister  of  the 
gospel.  In  the  case  of  Edwards,  it  pleased  the 
great  Head  of  the  church  to  order  every  thing 
concerning  him  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  make  the 
most  of  the  powers,  which  he  had  given  him  for 
serving  the  church  and  his  generation. 

Very  soon  after  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Edwards3 
lie  was  permitted  to  witness  some  gratifying  fruit 
of  his  labors.  There  was  a  sensible  increase  of 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  57 

attention  and  of  serious  inquiry  among  his  people, 
and  about  twenty  hopeful  converts  were  brought 
into  the  communion  of  the  church.  This  religious 
attention,  though  never  very  extensive  or  power 
ful,  continued  for  nearly  two  years,  and  in  no 
small  degree  encouraged  the  youthful  pastor  as 
well  as  his  paternal  coadjutor  in  labor. 

In  February,  1729,  a  little  more  than  eighteen 
months  after  Mr.  Edwards's  marriage,  his  vener 
able  grandfather  and  colleague,  Mr.  Stoddard,  was 
removed  by  death  at  a  very  advanced  age,  and 
the  whole  care  of  a  large  congregation  devolved 
on  our  youthful  pastor.  In  a  short  time  after 
ward,  by  the  increased  pressure  of  his  cares,  and 
especially  by  the  excess  of  his  application  to 
study,  his  health  was  so  far  impaired,  that  he 
was  obliged  to  desist  from  preaching,  and  to  be 
absent  from  his  flock  for  several  months.  After 
his  return,  his  labors  seem  to  have  been  pursued 
for  several  years  with  their  wonted  diligence,  vig 
or,  and  acceptance,  but  without  any  considerable 
measure  of  that  visible  success  for  which  he,  no 
doubt,  earnestly  longed  and  prayed.  Indeed,  after 
the  decline  of  that  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  almost  immediately  succeeded  his  ordlna 
tion,  the  state  of  his  church,  as  to  vital  piety  and 
even  correct  morals,  became  sensibly  worse,  and 
greatly  discouraged  and  distressed  him. 

In  July,  1731,  Mr.  Edwards  visited  Boston,  and 


58  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

among  other  public  ministrations,  preached  at  the 
Thursday  Lecture,  which  had  been  for  many  years 
maintained  in  that  town.  The  discourse  appeared 
to  the  ministers  and  others  who  heard  it  so  excel  • 
ient  and  reasonable,  that  a  copy  of  it  was  re 
quested  for  publication.  With  much  reluctance 
he  complied  with  the  request.  It  was  printed, 
with  a  preface  by  the  Reverend  Messrs.  Prince 
and  Cooper,  highly  venerated  pastors  of  Boston, 
commending  it  in  strong  language.  This  was  Mr. 
Edwards's  first  publication.  The  text  was  1  Co 
rinthians,  i.  29,  30.  It  appears  among  his  printed 
works,  under  the  title  of  "  God  glorified  in  Man's 
Dependence."  It  is  an  excellent  sermon,  and 
might  have  been  expected  to  gratify  intelligent 
and  pious  hearers.  The  general  subject  was  a 
favorite  one  of  the  author,  and  often  occupied  his 
heart  and  employed  his  pen  afterwards. 

Prior  to  the  year  1732,  as  has  been  already 
hinted,  the  state  of  religion  in  the  church  at 
Northampton  had  been  lamentably  low  and  de 
clining.  Early  in  that  year,  the  appearance  of 
things  began  to  be  more  favorable.  A  number 
of  the  young  people  became  more  sober  and  at 
tentive  to  the  means  of  grace.  Several  mis 
chievous  practices,  which  had  been  common,  and 
not  unpopular  in  the  town,  were  gradually  aban 
doned  The  vigilant  and  faithful  pastor  observing 
this,  and  anxious  that  his  people  should  proceed 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  59 

inderstandingly ,  as  well  as  conscientiously,  in  all 
things,  as  the  religious  awakening  gained  ground, 
took  up  several  important  subjects  in  the  pulpit, 
both  doctrinal  and  practical,  and  treated  them  in 
a  deeply  solemn  and  impressive  manner.  The 
result  was,  that  by  the  blessing  of  God  on  the 
indefatigable  labors  of  his  servant  in  1733,  1734, 
and  1735,  especially  in  the  last  named  year,  the 
town  was  favored  with  an  extensive  and  powerful 
revival  of  religion  ;  so  extensive  and  powerful, 
indeed,  as  to  constitute  a  memorable  era  in  the 
history  of  that  church. 

A  variety  of  circumstances,  both  preceding  and 
attending  this  revival,  are  worthy  of  notice.  Im 
mediately  before  its  commencement,  the  Arminian 
controversy  had  occupied  a  large  share  of  the 
public  attention  in  that  part  of  New  England,  and 
had  been  conducted  with  zeal  and  in  some  cases 
with  oreat  warmth.  Some  of  the  friends  of  re- 

O 

ligion  in  Northampton  deprecated  the  introduction 
of  this  controversy  into  their  church,  as  like'y  to 
exert  an  unhappy  influence  on  the  public  mind, 
and  to  suspend,  if  not  destroy,  the  religious  atten 
tion  which  was  evidently  becoming  more  powerful 
and  general. 

Mr.  Edwards  judged  differently.    Believing  the 
Arminian  errors  to  have  a  most  pestiferous  influ 
ence  in  their  bearing  on  the  great  subject  of  sal 
vation  by  grace,  and  feeling  confident  that  a  time 


60  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  general  awakening  to  the  interests  of  religion, 
instead  of  being  unfavorable,  was  rather  friendly 
to  a  serious  consideration  of  the  subject,  he  de 
termmed,  in  spite  of  the  fears  and  in  opposition  to 
the  counsels  of  many  of  his  friends,  to  introduce 
the  main  branches  of  the  controversy  into  the 
pulpit.  He  accordingly  preached  a  series  of  able 
and  solemn  sermons  on  the  subject,  which,  though 
severely  censured  at  the  time  by  some  of  his  own 
people,  and  by  a  still  greater  number  in  the  neigh- 
ooring  churches,  ultimately  produced  a  powerful 
and  happy  effect ;  and,  instead  of  interrupting  or 
diminishing  the  religious  attention  among  the  peo 
ple  of  his  charge,  were  instrumental  in  rendering 
it  more  deep  and  extensive.  Among  the  dis 
courses  delivered  on  this  occasion,  were  the  well- 
known  sermons  afterwards  printed,  on  "  Justifica 
tion  by  Faith  alone  ;  "  "  Pressing  into  the  King 
dom  of  God  ; "  "  Ruth's  Resolution,"  and  "  The 
Justice  of  God  in  the  Damnation  of  Sinners."  It 
is  not  wonderful,  that  he  should  consider  discourses 
of  this  kind  as  adapted  to  do  good  at  any  time, 
and  especially  in  a  moment  of  peculiar  religious 
attention.  They  are  indeed,  in  one  sense,  polem 
ical  in  their  character ;  for  they  are  employed  in 
"  contending  earnestly  "  for  the  fundamental  truths 
of  the  gospel ;  but  they  have  nothing  of  the  acri 
mony  of  controversy.  On  the  contrary,  they  are 
characterized  by  that  power  of  evangelical  reason- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  61 

ing,  that  awfulness  of  solemnity,  and  that  tender 
ness  of  appeal,  which  might  have  been  expected 
to  become  instrumental  in  commencing  a  revival 
of  religion,  instead  of  arresting  one  after  it  had 
begun. 

Accordingly  the  effect  was  most  manifest  and 
happy.  The  religious  attention,  which  had  before 
disclosed  a  very  promising  character,  now  assumed 
an  aspect  of  the  most  impressive  and  animating 
kind.  It  extended  to  every  part  of  the  town  and 
neighborhood,  and  became  the  absorbing  subject 
of  attention  and  conversation  in  all  companies. 
Scarcely  a  family  or  even  an  individual  of  the  con 
gregation  remained  unconcerned.  Almost  every 
house  furnished  one  or  more  monuments  of  the 
power  of  divine  grace.  The  most  thoughtless 
and  licentious,  and  even  a  number  of  the  most 
systematic  and  determined  opposers  of  religion, 
were  arrested  in  their  course,  and  made  to  bow 
to  the  power  of  the  Gospel.  Persons  of  all  ages, 
ranks,  and  professions  were  among  the  hopeful 
subjects  of  sanctifying  grace.  The  learned  and 
the  ignorant,  the  profligate  and  the  decent,  and 
about  an  equal  number  of  both  sexes,  were  hope 
fully  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  In  the 
whole,  more  than  three  hundred  persons  from  a 
state  of  carelessness  became,  as  was  hoped,  real 
Christians  in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  This 
number,  in  a  town  not  containing  at  that  time 


62  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

more  than  two  hundred  families,  was  certainly 
extraordinary. 

The  whole  aspect  of  the  town  was  changed. 
The  power  of  religion,  if  it  did  not  govern  every 
heart,  certainly  exerted  an  influence  in  every 
house,  and  commanded  a  solemnity  of  attention 
unknown  before.  The  habits  of  the  young  people, 
which  had,  for  several  preceding  years,  given  so 
much  uneasiness  to  the  best  part  of  the  church, 
were  entirely  laid  aside.  Docility  and  order  were 
now  their  reigning  characteristics,  even  in  those 
few  cases  in  which  piety  had  not  taken  possession 
of  their  hearts.  The  kingdom  of  God,  in  this 
case,  remarkably  verified  the  inspired  description 
"  It  was  not  in  word,  but  in  power ; "  a  powei 
which  seemed,  in  some  degree,  to  pervade  the 
whole  population.  A  careless  person  could  scarce 
ly  be  found  in  the  whole  neighborhood.  The  truth 
is,  at  the  close  of  the  revival,  almost  the  whole 
adult  population  of  the  town  was  found  in  the 
communion  of  the  church. 

From  the  full  and  interesting  account  given  of 
this  work  of  grace  by  Mr.  Edwards  himself,  it 
appears  to  have  been  conducted  throughout  in  a 
calm,  rational,  Scriptural  manner,  without  fanati 
cism  or  disorder,  and  to  have  resulted,  as  to  the 
character  of  its  fruits,  to  the  honor  of  religion, 
and  greatly  to  the  edification  of  the  church.  He 
informs  us  also,  that  the  doctrinal  instruction  which 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  63 

was  instrumental  in  commencing  and  extending 
this  revival,  was  the  sound,  orthodox  system  which 
the  Puritan  fathers  had  been  preaching  for  more 
than  a  hundred  preceding  years.  The  doctrines, 
the  proclamation  of  which  was  so  eminently 
blessed,  he  expressly  tells  us,  were  the  total  de 
pravity  of  human  nature  ;  the  entire  moral  im 
potence  of  the  sinner ;  the  sufferings  and  death 
of  Christ  as  the  substitute  of  his  people ;  their 
justification  solely  by  his  imputed  righteousness, 
received  by  faith  alone;  and  the  absolute  sove 
reignty  of  God  in  the  dispensation  of  his  grace. 
These,  he  assures  us,  were  the  doctrines  which 
he  constantly  preached,  and  which  he  ever  found 
most  effectual  in  awakening  men  to  a  sense  of 
their  danger,  and  leading  them  to  the  Savior. 

Among  those  who  advised  Mr.  Edwards  to  ab 
stain  from  preaching  on  the  Arminian  controversy, 
was  a  wealthy  and  respectable  family  in  a  neigh 
boring  town,  related  to  Mr.  Edwards,  but  who 
had  become  strongly  infected  with  Arminian  er 
rors,  and  felt  unwilling  to  have  them  attacked 
The  course  which  he  took  in  opposition  to  their 
advice,  incurably  offended  and  alienated  them. 
They  ceased  not  to  be  his  bitter  enemies,  and  to 
do  all  in  their  power  to  injure  him  as  long  as  he 
lived. 

Toward  the  close  of  1735,  the  religious  atten 
tion  declined.     The  few,  who  had  passed  through 


64  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

it  unmoved,  were  hardened  into  still  deeper  indif 
ference.  Another  class  who  had  been  excited 
and  alarmed,  but  not  sanctified,  relapsed  into  their 
former  carelessness ;  and  the  intense  feeling  even 
of  the  truly  pious,  which  had  been  so  long  ex 
cited  and  kept  on  the  stretch,  in  a  considerable 
degree  lost  its  intensity,  and  returned  to  its  ordi 
nary  state.  So  much  for  what  may  be  called  the 
natural  and  ordinary  causes  of  the  decline  in  ques 
tion.  Besides  these,  there  were,  in  the  opinion 
of  Mr.  Edwards,  some  other  considerations,  which 
had  an  influence  unfriendly  to  the  continuance 
and  extension  of  the  revival.  These  were  two 
or  three  instances  of  "  enthusiastic  delusion "  in 
neighboring  towns,  which,  in  the  view  of  some, 
threw  discredit  on  the  cause  of  vital  piety  ;  and  an 
ardent  controversy  respecting  the  settlement  of  a 
minister,  which  arose  in  a  town  at  some  distance 
from  Northampton,  which  not  only  agitated  the 
church  more  immediately  interested  in  the  event, 
but  extended  its  unhappy  influence  to  some  of 
the  most  remote  churches  of  the  colony. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  scene  such  as  has 
been  described,  brought  a  great  increase  of  labor 
to  Mr.  Edwards,  and  put  to  a  severe  test  his  frail 
bodily  health.  His  public  labors  in  the  pulpit  anc 
in  the  lecture-room  were,  of  course,  greatly  mul 
tiplied  ;  and  his  study  was  almost  every  day,  for 
months  together,  constantly  thronged  with  anxious 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  65 

inquirers.  Visiters  from  the  neighboring  towns 
also  flocked  to  Northampton,  and  many  of  them 
resorted  to  the  pastor  for  instruction  and  counsel. 
In  addition  to  all  this,  the  wonders  of  the  scene 
attracted  the  attention  of  many  pastors  from  ad 
jacent  as  well  as  more  distant  churches,  who  very 
naturally  sought  the  company  and  the  counsel  of 
him,  who  was  permitted  to  enjoy  so  wonderful  a 
share  of  ministerial  success. 

Seldom  has  a  pastor  been  placed  in  circum 
stances  more  adapted  to  try  his  strength,  and, 
indeed,  to  overwhelm  him  with  an  amount  of 
labor  beyond  the  power  of  any  one  to  endure. 
But  Mr.  Edwards  was  wonderfully  sustained  un 
der  it  all.  With  a  constitution  of  extreme  deli 
cacy  and  feebleness,  amidst  all  the  accumulation 
of  labors  which  he  was  called  to  endure,  his 
health  was  mercifully  preserved.  He  experienced 
most  eminently  the  truth  of  that  promise,  "  As 
thy  day  is,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  That  he 
was  favored  at  this  time  with  a  large  increase 
of  Christian  affection  and  zeal,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  Probably,  indeed,  as  his  spiritual  stature 
was  greater  than  that  of  any  individual  around 
him,  so  it  may  be  supposed  that  he  participated 
more  largely  than  any  other  in  that  hallowed  grati 
tude  and  joy  which  could  not  fail  to  be  a  constant 
and  a  richly  sustaining  cordial  to  the  spirit. 

But  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  memory  of  one 

I.— 5 


66  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

of  the  most  excellent  of  women  not  to  say,  that 
the  unremitting  attentions  and  care  of  Mrs.  Ed 
wards  contributed  greatly  on  this,  as  on  all  similar 
occasions,  to  promote  the  health  and  comfort  ot 
her  husband,  and,  under  God,  the  efficiency  of 
his  spiritual  labors.  Although  she  was  at  this  time 
the  mother  of  three  children,  and  under  the  ac 
cumulating  burden  of  those  peculiar  cares  which 
occupy  the  faithful  mother,  she  found  time  to  aid 
her  husband  not  a  little  at  this  interesting  and 

O 

trying  season.  She  seems  to  have  devoted  her 
self  to  his  comfort  with  an  assiduity  which  never 
grew  weary,  and  to  have  rendered  him  invaluable 
aid  in  meeting  and  conversing  with  the  female 
portion  of  those,  who  visited  him  for  conversation 
and  counsel.  Indeed,  so  intelligent  and  deep  was 
her  piety,  so  sound  her  understanding,  and  so 
winning  her  address,  that  probably  few  pastors 
were  better  qualified  to  converse  with  and  counsel 
the  anxious  inquirer,  than  this  excellent  woman. 
She  not  only  devoted  herself  every  day  to  the 
work  of  doing  good,  but  she  appeared  habitua.ly 
to  act  under  the  impression,  that  there  was  no 
way  in  which  she  could  more  effectually  and  ex 
tensively  promote  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  and 
glory,  than  by  promoting  the  comfort,  alleviating 
the  burdens,  and  aiding  the  labors  of  the  vener 
ated  minister  of  his  church,  with  whom  she  was 
30  closely  allied. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  67 

With  regard  to  the  state  of  Mr.  Edwards's  own 
mind  during  this  wonderful  scene,  and  after  it  had 
closed,  he  has  left  a  very  distinct  and  ample 
record.  He  seems  to  have  enjoyed  religion  dur 
ing  this  period,  as  highly,  if  not  more  highly,  than 
ever  before.  Perhaps,  in  deep  humility  ;  in  fixed 
devotedness  to  the  service  and  glory  of  Christ ;  in 
an  habitual  impression  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  the 
beauty  and  excellence  of  conformity  to  the  will 
of  God  ;  in  an  adoring  acquiescence  in  Jehovah's 
sovereignty,  and  in  the  largeness  and  depth  of  his 
views  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  he  manifested  a 
decisive  increase  of  attainment.  It  was  evident, 
that  while  the  people  of  his  charge  had  so  exten 
sively  profited  by  the  work  of  grace  which  they 
had  been  permitted  to  witness,  their  pastor  him 
self  had  experienced  a  very  perceptible  addition 
to  his  spiritual  stature  from  all  that  he  had  passed 
through. 

It  pleased  God  to  employ  this  revival  not  only 
as  a  means  of  great  good  at  home,  but  also  of 
making  Mr.  Edwards  more  known  abroad,  and 
of  introducing  him  to  a  foreign  correspondence, 
which  was  evidently  connected  with  no  small  ben 
efit  to  him  in  the  end.  In  May,  1735,  in  answer 
to  a  letter  of  inquiry  from  the  Reverend  Dr.  Col- 
man,  of  Boston,  he  wrote  a  brief  account  of  the 
work  of  divine  grace  at  Northampton,  which  was 
published  by  Dr.  Colman,  and  immediately  for- 


68  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

warded  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Watts  and  the  Rev 
erend  Dr.  Guyse,  of  London.  These  latter  gen 
tlemen  felt  so  much  interest  in  the  account,  that 
they  sought  for  more  information.  He  was,  there 
fore,  induced  to  prepare  a  much  larger  account, 
also  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Dr.  Colman,  dated 
November,  1736,  which  was  published  in  London 
under  the  title  of  a  "  Narrative  of  Surprising  Con 
versions,"  with  an  Introduction  by  Dr.  Watts  and 
Dr.  Guyse,  and  extensively  read  b}^  the  friends 
of  religion  in  England.  In  1738,  this  "  Narra 
tive  "  was  republished  in  Boston,  with  a  highly 
commendatory  Preface  by  four  of  the  senior  min 
isters  of  the  town.  The  Boston  edition  was 
accompanied  with  five  Discourses,  four  of  which 
were  before  mentioned,  on  the  following  subjects, 
namely,  "  Justification  by  Faith  alone ;  Ruth's 
Resolution  ;  Pressing  into  the  Kingdom  of  God  ; 
the  Justice  of  God  in  the  Damnation  of  Sinners, 
and  the  Excellency  of  Jesus  Christ."  This  vol 
ume  was  extensively  circulated,  and  was  supposed 
to  have  been  followed  by  an  influence  in  many 
cases  highly  important  and  salutary. 

In  the  year  1739,  Mr.  Edwards  commenced 
a  series  of  discourses  in  his  own  pulpit,  which 
formed  the  basis  of  his  celebrated  work,  afterward* 
published,  entitled  "The  History  of  the  Work  of 
Redemption."  The  whole  series,  consisting  of 
thirty,  was  begun  in  March,  and  finished  before 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  69 

tho  close  of  the  following  August  These  dis 
courses  do  not  seem  to  have  been  at  first  prepared 
with  any  view  to  publication,  but  solely  for  the 
benefit  of  his  own  people.  There  is  abundant 
evidance,  however,  that  the  great  subject  to  which 
the}'  related  was  deeply  interesting  to  his  mind ; 
that  his  views  of  it  became  more  enlarged  and 
interesting,  the  longer  he  considered  it ;  and  that 
he  conceived  the  plan,  if  his  life  and  health  were 
spared,  to  reconstruct  and  prepare  the  whole  with 
much  care  for  the  press.  Indeed,  his  earnest  de 
sire  to  devote  much  time  and  labor  in  maturing 
this  work  is  mentioned  in  his  letter  to  the  trustees 
of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  as  one  objection 
to  his  accepting  the  presidency  of  that  institution. 
It  was  never  published  during  his  life ;  and,  al 
though  of  great  value,  as  it  came  from  the  press 
after  his  decease,  he  never  had  an  opportunity  of 
bestowing  upon  it  that  mature  revision  and  com 
pletion,  which  he  earnestly  desired. 

In  the  spring  of  1740,  a  second  extensive  and 
powerful  revival  of  religion  commenced  in  North 
ampton.  It  again  very  much  pervaded  the  town, 
and  large  numbers  were  added  to  the  church.  In 
the  autumn  of  that  year,  the  Reverend  George 
"Wmtefield,  whose  apostolical  and  eminently  useful 
labors  in  Europe  and  America  will  long  be  re 
membered  with  adoring  gratitude,  on  his  second 
visit  to  the  American  colonies,  went  to  North  amp. 


0*,  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ton  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  and  conversing  with 
Mr.  Edwards.  Their  interview  was  highly  inter 
esting.  Mr.  Whitefield  spent  four  days  with  him, 
preached  five  sermons  in  his  pulpit,  and  afterwards 
accompanied  him,  with  some  other  friends,  to  East 
Windsor,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  their  respects 
to  Mr.  Edwards's  venerable  father. 

The  labors  of  this  wonderful  man  in  Northamp 
ton  were  blessed  to  the  spiritual  benefit  of  many 
individuals,  and  were  instrumental  in  continuing 
and  extending  that  happy  state  of  religious  at 
tention,  which  had  preceded  his  seasonable  visit. 
Mr.  Edwards  himself  seems  to  have  regarded  this 
visit  of  the  great  English  evangelist  with  peculiar 
pleasure,  and  to  have  attached  no  small  impor 
tance  to  his  labors  at  Northampton.  His  minis 
trations  in  other  parts  of  New  England  were, 
beyond  all  doubt,  eminently  instrumental  in  pro 
moting  the  interests  of  real  religion. 

In  the  course  of  the  revival  with  which  North 
ampton  and  a  number  of  neighboring  towns  were 
favored,  in  1740,  and  the  two  or  three  following 
years,  the  disorderly  practice  of  lay-preaching 
commenced,  and  gained  considerable  ground  in 
various  parts  of  New  England.  Mr.  Edwards 
set  himself  in  opposition  to  it  with  all  the  decision 
and  zeal,  which  might  have  been  expected  from 
that  union  of  piety  and  wisdom,  which  he  so  emi 
nently  possessed.  The  following  letter,  addressed 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  71 

by  him,  in  1742,  to  a  beloved  young  friend,  who 
had  laid  himself  open  to  censure  in  this  respect, 
is  so  instructive  and  excellent,  that  it  is  worthy 
of  being  here  recorded. 

«  Northampton,  18  May,  1742. 
"Mr  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  I  am  fully  satisfied  by  the  account  your  father 
has  given  me,  that  you  have  gone  out  of  the  way 
of  your  duty,  and  done  that  which  did  not  belong 
to  you,  in  exhorting  a  public  congregation.  I 
know  you  to  be  a  person  of  good  judgment  and 
discretion,  and  can,  therefore,  with  the  greater 
confidence  put  it  to  you,  to  consider  with  your 
self  what  you  can  reasonably  judge  would  be  the 
consequence,  if  I  and  all  other  ministers  should 
approve  and  publicly  justify  such  things  as  lay 
men's  taking  it  upon  them  to  exhort  after  this 
manner.  If  one  may,  why  may  not  another? 
And  if  there  be  no  certain  limits  or  bounds,  but 
every  one  that  pleases  may  have  liberty,  alas ! 
what  should  we  soon  come  to  ?  If  God  had  not 
seen  it  necessary  that  such  things  should  have 
certain  limits  and  bounds,  he  never  would  have 
appointed  a  certain  particular  order  of  men  to  that 
work  and  office,  to  be  set  apart  to  it  in  so  solemn 
a  manner  in  the  name  of  God.  The  Head  of 
the  church  is  wiser  than  we,  and  knew  how  tc 
regulate  things  in  his  church. 


72  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

"  It  is  no  argument  that  such  things  are  right, 
that  they  do  a  great  deal  of  good  for  the  present, 
and  within  a  narrow  sphere;  when  at  the  same 
time,  if  we  look  on  them  in  the  utmost  extent  of 
their  consequences,  and  on  the  long  run  of  events, 
they  do  ten  times  as  much  hurt  as  good.  Ap 
pearing  events  are  not  our  rule,  but  '  the  law  and 
the  testimony.'  We  ought  to  be  vigilant  and  cir 
cumspect,  and  look  on  every  side,  and  as  far  as 
we  can,  to  the  further  end  of  things.  God  may, 
if  he  pleases,  in  his  sovereign  providence,  turn 
that  which  is  most  wrong  to  do  a  great  deal  of 
good  for  the  present ;  for  he  does  what  he  pleases. 
I  hope  you  will  consider  the  matter,  and  for  the 
future  avoid  doing  thus.  You  ought  to  do  what 
good  you  can  by  private,  brotherly,  humble  ad 
monitions  and  counsels  ;  but  it  is  too  much  for  you 
to  exhort  public  congregations,  or  solemnly  to  set 
yourself,  by  a  set  speech,  to  counsel  a  room  full 
of  people,  unless  it  be  children,  or  those  that  are 
much  your  inferiors,  or  to  speak  to  any  in  an 
authoritative  way.  Such  things  have  done  a  vast 
deal  of  mischief  in  the  country,  and  have  hin 
dered  the  work  of  God  exceedingly. 

"The  Reverend  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  has  lately 
wntten  a  letter  to  one  of  the  ministers  of  New 
England,  earnestly  to  dissuade  from  such  things. 
Your  temptations  are  exceeding  great.  You  had 
need  to  have  the  prudence  and  humility  of  ten 


. ONATHAN     EDWARDS.  73 

men.  If  you  are  kept  humble  and  prudent,  you 
may  be  a  great  blessing  in  this  part  of  the  land ; 
otherwise,  you  may  do  as  much  hurt  in  a  few 
weeks  as  you  can  do  good  in  four  years.  You 
migh:  be  under  great  advantages  by  your  pru- 
denct  to  prevent  these  irregularities  and  disorders 
in  your  parts,  that  prevail  and  greatly  hinder  the 
work  of  God  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  But, 
by  such  things  as  these,  you  will  weaken  your 
own  hands,  and  fill  the  country  with  nothing  but 
vain  and  fruitless  and  pernicious  disputes.  Per 
sons,  when  very  full  of  a  great  sense  of  things,  are 
greatly  exposed ;  for  then  they  long  to  do  some 
thing,  and  to  do  something  extraordinary ;  and 
then  is  the  Devil's  time  to  keep  them  upon  their 
heads,  if  they  be  not  uncommonly  circumspect  and 
self-diffident. 

"  I  hope  these  few  lines  will  be  taken  in  good 
part,  from  your  assured  friend, 

"  JONATHAN  EDWARDS." 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Tennent,  to  which  Mr.  Ed 
wards  refers,  is  also  still  extant,  and  is  in  the  same 
strain  of  decisive  and  ardent  exhortation  against 
the  disorder,  which  is  the  subject  of  his  warning. 
Their  remonstrances  and  exhortations  ultimately 
prevailed.  The  irregularity  in  question  was, 
gradually,  though  with  no  small  difficulty,  put 
down ;  but  not  until  it  had  wellnigh  been  the 


74  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

means  of  bringing  the   Gospel  ministry,  in  many 
places,  into  contempt,  and  of  pouring  much  dis 
credit  on  the  cause  of  religion.     The  most  unfa 
vorable   anticipations  of  these  eminent  men  were 
more  than  realized. 

In  the  midst  of  the  religious  attention,  with 
which  Mr.  Edwards  was  now  surrounded,  and 
which  also  prevailed  in  many  other  parts  of  New 
England,  he  attended  the  Commencement  at  New 
Haven,  and,  being  there  called  upon  to  preach,  he 
delivered  his  well-known  and  able  sermon,  en 
titled,  "  Distinguishing  Marks  of  a  Work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God."  It  was  so  highly  approved  by 
the  clergy  and  other  friends  of  religion  who  heard 
it,  that  a  copy  of  it  was  immediately  requested 
for  the  press.  It  was  accordingly  soon  afterwards 
printed  in  Boston,  with  a  warmly  commendatory 
Preface  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Cooper,  one  of  the 
ministers  of  that  town  ;  and,  shortly  after,  was  re- 
pubhshed  in  Scotland  with  a  similar  Preface,  from 
the  pen  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Willison,  one  of 
the  most  venerable  and  excellent  ministers  of  the 
church  of  Scotland.  This  sermon  had  a  wide 
circulation,  and  was  considered  as  eminently  use 
ful,  by  placing  the  cause  of  revivals  of  religion  in 
a  just  and  Scriptural  light;  guarding  against  lifeless 
formality  on  the  one  hand,  and  enthusiasm  and 
fanaticism  on  the  other. 

The  religious  attention  with  which  Northampton 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  75 

was  favored,  and  which  the  singular  wisdom  and 
piety  of  Mr.  Edwards  were  instrumental,  under 
the  divine  blessing,  of  guarding  against  any  sig 
nal  disorders,  extended  over  a  large  part  or  the 
then  American  colonies.  Mr.  Whitefield  travelled 
extensively  in  every  part  of  the  country,  and 
preached  incessantly  ;  and  his  ministry  was  every 
where  singularly  blessed.  The  Reverend  Messrs. 
Gilbert  and  William  Tennent,  both  at  that  time 
pastors  in  New  Jersey,  also  abounded  at  the  same 
period  in  evangelical  labors,  both  in  New  England 
and  in  the  Middle  colonies ;  while  Mr.  Buell  of 
Long  Island,  Mr.  Wheelock  of  Connecticut,  and 
a  number  of  other  zealous  and  excellent  ministers, 
itinerated  extensively  in  preaching  the  Gospel,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Edwards,  or  at  his  request. 
He  invited  them  to  Northampton,  where  they  la 
bored  with  signal  success  ;  and  he  himself  devoted 
a  number  of  months  to  journeying  and  preaching 
in  various  parts  of  the  country. 

In  consequence  of  the  divine  blessing  on  these 
ministrations  of  the  word,  a  revival  of  religion 
more  extensive  and  powerful  than  ever  occurred, 
before  or  since,  was  vouchsafed  to  the  American 
churches.  The  wonderful  triumphs  of  Gospel 
truth  with  which  the  labors  of  those  excellent 
men  were  attended,  will  long  be  remembered  by 
the  friends  of  piety,  and  can  never  be  called  to 
mind  without  gratitude  and  praise  to  Him,  who  has 


73  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

"  the  residue  of  the  Spirit."  More  than  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  congregations  in  New  England,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia,  and  as  far  south  as  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  were  visited  and  greatly  blessed.  Many 
thousands  of  individuals,  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
were  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ  during 
that  revival ;  many  old  churches  were  greatly  en 
larged,  and  new  ones  established  in  places  before 
destitute  of  the  means  of  grace ;  and  a  new  im 
pulse,  and  much  more  favorable  aspect,  given  to 
the  cause  of  religion  in  general  in  the  American 
colonies. 

Amidst  these  animating  scenes,  in  which  the  en 
lightened  friends  of  piety  greatly  rejoiced,  some 
circumstances  of  an  adverse  and  painful  character 
occurred.  On  the  one  hand,  the  whole  work  was 
opposed  and  ridiculed  with  great  zeal  by  the  ene 
mies  of  vital  piety  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
was  disgraced  by  the  enthusiasm  and  folly  of  some 
of  its  professed  friends.  Disorders  were  permitted 
to  interpose,  which  exceedingly  grieved  many  in 
telligent  Christians,  and  exerted,  in  a  number  of 
places,  a  most  unfavorable  influence  on  the  great 
interests  of  vital  piety. 

The  unhappy  effects  of  lay-preaching  were  be 
fore  mentioned.  This  mischievous  practice  was 
indulged  to  a  considerable  extent  in  different  parts 
of  New  England,  and  always  with  unfavorable 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  77 

results.  But  lay-preaching  was  not  the  only  dis 
order  which  crept  in  to  mar  the  beauty,  and  di 
minish  the  power  of  this  glorious  work  of  grace. 
Bodily  agitations,  in  some  cases  apparently  vol 
untary  ;  hideous  and  appalling  outcries ;  enthusi 
astic  addresses  to  the  imagination ;  the  praying 
and  exhorting  of  females  in  public  ;  and  attempts 
to  decide  on  the  spiritual  condition  of  individuals 
by  the  countenance,  &c  ,  were  encouraged  in  va 
rious  places,  and  exceedingly  grieved  the  hearts 
of  judicious  Christians.  The  language  of  harsh 
censure,  and  of  uncharitable  denunciation,  as  "un 
converted,"  as  "blind  leaders  of  the  blind,"  as 
"  devout  conductors  to  hell,"  was  directed  against 
some  of  the  best  ministers  of  Christ  in  the  com 
munity,  because  they  disapproved  of  these  irregu 
larities. 

Public  confessions  of  secret  sins  were  warmly 
urged,  and  actually  made ;  and  crimes  altogether 
unsuspected  brought  to  light,  to  the  disgrace  of 
Christian  character,  and  the  destruction  of  do 
mestic  peace.  The  consequence  was,  that  scenes 
and  measures  which  were,  no  doubt,  intended  to 
make  a  salutary  impression,  were  made  the  sub 
jects  of  unhallowed  speculation,  and  the  themes 
of  a  thousand  tongues.  All  these  were  urged 
with  the  confidence  of  oracular  wisdom  ;  and  who 
ever  ventured  to  lisp  any  thing  like  doubt  or  op 
position,  was  publicly  stigmatized  as  an  enemy  to 
revivals,  and  an  opposer  of  vital  piety. 


78  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Among  those  who  took  the  lead  in  this  fanatical 
and  disorderly  conduct,  one  individual  obtained 
such  an  unhappy  preeminence,  that  his  case  ought 
not  only  to  be  recorded,  but  to  be  kept  before 
the  public  mind  as  a  salutary  warning.  This  was 
the  Reverend  James  Davenport,  a  great-grandson 
of  the  excellent  and  venerable  John  Davenport, 
the  first  minister  of  New  Haven,  and,  at  that  time, 
pastor  of  a  church  at  Southhold,  on  Long  Island. 
Mr.  Davenport  was  then  a  young  man,  and  had 
been  for  some  time  esteemed  a  pious  and  faithful 
minister.  Hearing  of  the  signal  effusions  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  with  which  God  had  been  pleased 
to  favor  many  parts  of  New  England,  he,  about 
the  year  1741,  made  a  visit  to  Connecticut,  and 
shortly  afterwards  to  Massachusetts,  everywhere 
preaching  abundantly,  and  entering  with  warmth 
into  the  spirit  of  the  prevailing  revivals. 

He  soon,  however,  became  animated  by  a  furi 
ous  zeal,  and,  imagining  that  he  was  called  to  take 
a  special  lead  in  the  work,  he  began  to  set  at 
nought  all  the  rules  of  Christian  prudence  and 
order,  and  to  give  the  most  unrestrained  liberty  to 
his  fanatical  feelings.  He  raised  his  voice  to  the 
highest  pitch  in  public  services,  and  accompanied 
his  unnatural  vehemence  and  cantatory  bawling 
with  the  most  vehement  agitations  of  body.  He 
encouraged  his  hearers  to  give  vent,  without  re 
straint,  both  to  their  distress  and  their  joy,  by 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  79 

violent  outcries  in  the  midst  of  public  assemblies. 
He  pronounced  those  who  were  thus  violently 
agitated,  and  who  made  these  public  outcries,  to 
be,  undoubtedly,  converted  persons.  He  openly 
encouraged  his  new  converts  to  speak  in  public, 
and  brought  forward  many  ignorant  and  unquali 
fied  persons,  young  and  old,  to  address  large  as 
semblies,  in  his  own  vehement  and  magisterial 
manner.  He  led  his  followers  in  procession 
through  the  streets,  singing  psalms  and  hymns. 
He  claimed  a  kind  of  prescriptive  right  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  character  of  ministers  of  the 
Gospel.  He  went  from  place  to  place  under 
taking  to  examine  ministers  as  to  their  spiritual 
state,  and  to  decide  with  confidence  whether  they 
were  converted  or  not ;  and,  when  his  judgment 
was  unfavorable,  he  would  often,  in  his  public 
prayers,  denounce  them  as  graceless  persons,  and 
call  upon  the  people  to  pray  for  their  conversion. 
Those  who  refused  to  be  examined  by  him,  he, 
of  course,  placed  on  the  reprobated  list.  He, 
made  his  public  prayers  the  medium  of  harsh 
and  often  indecent  attack  on  these  ministers  and 
others,  whom  he  felt  disposed  on  any  account 
to  censure.  He  taught  his  followers  to  govern 
themselves  by  impulses  and  enthusiastic  impres 
sions,  rather  than  by  the  word  of  God  ;  and  rep 
resented  all  public  services,  in  which  there  was 
not  some  visible  agitation,  or  some  audible  outcry, 


80  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

as  of  no  value.  He  warned  the  people  against 
nearing  the  ministers  whom  he  denounced  as  un 
converted,  representing  it  as  a  dreadful  sin  to  do 
so ;  and,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  publicly  re 
fused  to  receive  the  sacramental  symbols  in  par 
ticular  churches  where  he  was  present  at  the  com 
munion,  because  he  doubted  the  piety  of  the 
pastors.  Congregations  were  exhorted  to  eject 
their  ministers;  and  dissatisfied  minorities  were 
encouraged  to  break  off,  and  form  new  churches ; 
and  in  this  way  a  number  of  congregations  were 
greatly  weakened,  and  others  nearly  destroyed. 

In  a  number  of  churches,  Mr.  Davenport  had 
his  blind  and  servile  imitators,  who  propagated  and 
extended  these  disorders,  and,  by  their  unhallowed 
mixtures  with  the  .work  of  grace,  filled  the  minds 
of  many  with  prejudices  against  the  whole,  as 
fanaticism  and  delusion ;  made  the  very  name  of 
a  revival  odious  in  the  ears  of  many  intelligent 
Christians ;  distracted  and  divided  many  congre 
gations  ;  and  gave  rise  to  multiplied  evils,  which, 
in  two  thirds  of  a  century  afterwards,  had  not 
entirely  disappeared. 

Although  Mr.  Whitefield,  who  has  been  not 
improperly  styled  "  the  prince  of  preachers,"  was 
exceedingly  active  in  the  revival  of  religion  which 
has  been  described,  and  was  instrumental  in  doing 
extensive  and  incalculable  good  in  the  American 
churches ;  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  some,  not 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  81 

the  worst  indeed,  but  some  of  the  irregularities 
referred  to,  received  from  him  more  countenance, 
especially  in  the  early  part  of  his  ministry,  than 
they  ought  to  have  done.  This  he  and  his  co 
adjutors  afterwards  confessed  and  lamented  with 
Christian  candor,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to 
correct  the  error.  There  is  ample  evidence  that 
Mr.  Edwards  saw  this  mistake  in  Mr.  Whitefield 
at  their  first  interview,  and  set  himself  modestly, 
but  firmly,  to  bear  testimony  against  it,  but  without 
immediate  success.  It  was  not  until  some  of  its 
unhappy  fruits  had  begun  to  be  disclosed,  that  the 
ardent  mind  of  Mr.  Whitefield  recognised  and 
corrected  the  irregularity. 

It  may  well  be  supposed,  that  while  Mr.  Ed 
wards  rejoiced  in  the  triumphs  of  divine  grace 
which  he  was  permitted  to  witness,  he  could  not 
be  an  unconcerned  spectator  of  the  enthusiastic 
and  fanatical  aberrations  which  were  evidently  in 
juring  the  cause  of  vital  piety.  The  scenes  of 
irregularity  and  disorder,  which  have  been  de 
scribed,  greatly  distressed  him  ;  and  he  remon 
strated  against  them  with  the  greatest  zeal.  For, 
although  his  own  church  was  less  infected  with 
these  disorders  than  almost  any  other,  yet  it  was 
not  wholly  free  from  them.  The  infection  of 
fanaticism,  caught  from  irregular  men  in  neighbor 
ing  towns,  could  not  be  wholly  shut  out  from 
Northampton.  But,  besides  finding  some  portion 

i.— 6 


82  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  the  evil  to  be  corrected  among  his  own  people, 
his  love  for  the  cause  of  truth,  and  for  the  welfare 
of  souls,  was  so  enlarged,  disinterested,  and  ardent, 
that  he  could  not  remain  idle  while  any  thing  was 
to  be  done,  or  any  error  remained  to  be  cor 
rected.  In  this  exigency  he  wrote  and  published 
his  "  Thoughts  concerning  the  Present  Revival 
of  Religion  in  New  England."  It  is  probable 
that  a  more  instructive  and  valuable  work,  on  the 
subject  to  which  it  relates,  was  never  presented 
to  the  religious  public.  It  treats  of  the  nature 
and  evidences  of  genuine  revivals  of  religion ;  of 
the  errors  and  evils  into  which  their  ardent  friends 
are  apt  to  fall ;  and  what  ought  to  be  done  to 
promote  them.  And  it  is  drawn  up  with  so  much 
practical  wisdom  ;  so  much  spiritual  discernment ; 
such  remarkable  acquaintance  with  the  human 
heart ;  with  such  marked  aversion  to  every  thing 
like  enthusiasm  or  extravagance ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  with  such  rational  and  Scriptural  ardor  of 
pious  affection,  that  it  was  received  by  the  friends 
of  vital  piety,  on  its  first  appearance,  with  a  de 
gree  of  approbation  seldom  manifested  toward  any 
work  so  intimately  connected  with  public  feeling ; 
and  it  has  ever  since  been  regarded  as  a  practical 
religious  classic,  by  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
Christian  public.  Its  fervent  piety  ;  its  wonderful 
sagacity  and  discrimination  ;  the  absence  of  all  ex- 
ravagant  feeling,  though  written  in  the  midst  of 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  83 

strong  excitement ;  and  the  clearness  of  its  Scrip 
tural  instruction,  have  been  the  wonder  and  the 
praise  of  all  succeeding  times.  It  was  published 
in  1742;  and,  amidst  all  the  discussions  and  pub 
lications  in  regard  to  revivals  which  have  attracted 
attention  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  it  has  quietly, 
and  by  common  consent,  taken  its  place  at  the 
summit  of  all  that  has  been  written  on  that  mo 
mentous  subject. 

This  work  was  immediately  republished  in  Scot 
land,  and  not  only  attracted  the  attention  and  the 
praise  of  a  large  number  of  the  friends  of  truth 
and  piety  in  that  country,  but  also  rendered  the 
author,  more  than  ever,  an  object  of  esteem  and 
reverence  among  all  at  home  and  abroad,  who  had 
an  opportunity  of  perusing  it.  Accordingly,  in 
1743,  Mr.  Edwards  was  introduced  to  an  ex 
tensive  epistolary  intercourse  with  several  distin 
guished  ministers  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  who, 
attracted  by  his  writings,  solicited  a  correspond 
ence  with  him,  which  he  maintained  for  a  number 
of  years  with  assiduity  and  interest.  Of  this  num- 
oer,  his  first  correspondent  was  the  Reverend  John 
McLaurin,  of  Glasgow,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
of  them,  both  for  talents  and  piety.  To  him 
succeeded  the  Reverend  William  McCulloch,  of 
Cambuslang ;  the  Reverend  John  Robe,  of  Kil- 
syth ;  the  Reverend  Thomas  Gillespie,  of  Carnoch ; 
the  Reverend  John  Willison,  of  Dundee,  and  the 


84  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Reverend  Dr.  John  Erskine,  then  minister  of  Kir- 
kintilloch,  afterwards  of  Edinburgh.  These  gen 
tlemen  seemed  to  enter  with  cordiality  into  the 
genuineness  and  glory  of  the  American  revivals  of 
religion,  and  appear  to  have  enjoyed  something  of 
the  same  blessing  in  their  own  respective  congre 
gations.  Mr.  Edwards's  correspondence  with  the 
last-named  gentleman  did  not  begin  quite  so  early 
as  that  which  he  maintained  with  the  others ;  but  it 
was  peculiarly  interesting,  and  continued  as  long  as 
Mr.  Edwards  lived.  Dr.  Erskine  was  remarkable 
for  qualities  peculiarly  suited  to  the  taste  and  the 
habits  of  his  American  friend.  To  great  ardor  of 
piety,  and  to  singular  fidelity  and  diligence  in  his 
pastoral  cnarge,  he  added  an  unusual  thirst  for 
knowledge,  and  unceasing  diligence  in  the  culti 
vation  of  his  mind,  even  to  old  age.  While, 
therefore,  he  received  with  the  deepest  interest 
the  successive  publications  of  Mr.  Edwards,  as 
they  issued  from  the  press,  he  was  careful,  on  his 
part,  to  search  out  and  send  to  Mr.  Edwards  such 
new  and  rare  works  as,  at  the  distance  of  the 
latter  from  the  great  libraries  of  Europe,  he  might 
have  found  it  difficult  to  procure.  It  is  evident, 
from  remaining  records,  that  this  correspondence 
was  highly  gratifying  to  both  parties,  and  was 
deemed  by  each  substantially  profitable. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  85 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Disorders  which  attended  the  Revival  of 
Religion.  —  The  Treatise  on  Religious  Affec 
tions.  —  Memoirs  of  Brainerd.  —  European 
Correspondence  continued. 

IT  has  been  seen,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that 
the  disorders, which,  unhappily,  crept  in  to  grieve 
the  pious,  and  disturb  the  peace  of  some  of  the 
churches,  in  the  course  of  the  revival  of  religion 
which  has  been  described,  gave  rise  to  a  number 
of  ecclesiastical  difficulties.  Troublesome  indi 
viduals,  actuated  by  enthusiasm,  or  by  spiritual 
pride,  became  schismatics,  and  greatly  weakened 
the  hands  of  ministers.  Dissatisfied  and  turbulent 
minorities  withdrew  from  the  ministry  of  their 
pastors,  and  set  up  rival  congregations.  In  these, 
and  in  a  variety  of  other  forms,  weak,  rash,  and 
enthusiastic  persons  became  instrumental  in  pro 
ducing  discord,  strife,  and  division  in  churches 
before  peaceful  and  happy. 

In  such  difficulties,  no  man  was  resorted  to  for 
counsel  more  frequently,  or  had  more  influence  in 
restoring   peace   and  order,  than   Mr.    Edwards 
He  became  the  counsellor  and  guide,  not  only  of 
those  who  addressed   him  by  letter  from  distant 


86  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

congregations,  but  also  of  many  who  came  to 
Northampton  to  consult  him  in  person.  Perhaps 
on  no  occasions  do  his  ardent  piety,  his  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  and  his  practical  wisdom  and 
prudence  appear  more  conspicuous,  than  in  the 
manner  in  which  he  gave  counsel  in  such  perplex 
ing  cases.  Lifted,  by  the  grace  of  his  Master, 
above  the  morbid  excitement  with  which  he  was 
called  to  deal,  he  addressed  both  aggrieved  and 
offending  parties  with  such  "  meekness  of  wis 
dom,"  as  seldom  failed  to  produce  a  beneficial 
effect.  In  perusing  the  specimens  that  remain 
of  these  counsels,  it  is  difficult  to  say,  which  ought 
most  to  be  admired,  —  the  calm  and  heavenly 
spirit  which  pervades  them,  or  the  comprehensive 
and  judicious  views  of  the  laws  and  interests  of 
the  church  of  God,  which  constantly  appear. 

But  this  great  and  good  man  now  felt  himself 
called  to  attempt  a  more  extensive  and  permanent 
service  to  the  great  cause  of  vital  piety.  The 
seasons  of  religious  attention  through  which  he 
had  passed,  and  the  various  forms  of  delusion 
which  he  had  witnessed,  convinced  him  that  there 
was  an  urgent  demand  for  some  popular  treatise, 
more  clear  and  discriminating  than  he  had  yet 
seen,  for  distinguishing  true  religion  from  its  vari 
ous  counterfeits.  On  this  subject  he  was  aware 
that  great  diversity  of  opinion  prevailed.  Some, 
who  adopted  the  formal  and  frigid  Arminian  sys- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  87 

tern  of  Dr.  Whitby,  scarcely  admitted  the  need, 
or  even  the  reality,  of  any  thing  which  Edwards 
regarded  as  genuine  heart  religion.  Others  at 
tached  essential  importance  to  strong  impulses 
and  visible  excitement ;  and  whenever  they  saw 
great  apparent  zeal  and  ardor  of  affection,  what 
ever  countervailing  evils  might  appear,  recognised 
the  evidence  of  conversion  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Some  taught  that  real  religion  did  not  consist  at 
all  in  the  affections,  but  wholly  in  the  external 
conduct ;  while  others  were  not  willing  to  sanction 
any  evidence  of  piety  but  that  which  included, 
not  merely  internal  exercises,  but  also  the  precise 
time,  place,  and  order  of  certain  prescribed  feel 
ings,  which  they  were  pleased  to  consider  as 
indispensable.  In  fine,  there  were  those  who 
considered  every  thing  which  they  had  witnessed 
in  the  religious  attention  around  them,  however 
disorderly,  as  worthy  of  approbation,  and  nothing 
to  be  condemned  ;  while  not  a  few,  disgusted  by 
the  irregularities  which  had  occurred,  pronounced 
the  whole  enthusiasm  and  delusion. 

Amidst  this  diversity  of  opinion,  it  seemed  de 
sirable  that  some  "  master  spirit,"  who  had  been 
"  taught  of  God,"  and  who  to  ardent  piety  add 
ed  great  natural  discernment  and  rich  experi 
ence,  and  who  enjoyed  a  large  measure  of  pub 
lic  confidence,  should  step  forward,  and  enlighten 
and  guide  the  religious  public.  Though  Mr 


88  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Edwards  did  not  claim  this  character  for  himself, 
yet  such  he  really  was.  Being  firmly  persuaded, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  the  religious  attention,  in 
which  he  had  been  allowed  to  participate,  was  a 
genuine  work  of  God,  in  which  the  friends  of 
piety  had  reason  to  rejoice  ;  and,  on  the  other, 
that  much  of  a  spurious  and  fatally  deceptive 
character  had,  in  various  places,  mingled  with  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  he  resolved  to  devote 
particular  attention  to  the  distinguishing  marks  and 
evidences  of  true  religion. 

For  this  purpose,  while  the  religious  attention 
was  still  going  on,  he  commenced  in  1742,  and  fin 
ished  early  in  1743,  a  series  of  Sermons,  founded 
on  1  Peter,  i.  8.  These  were  successively  deliv 
ered  in  his  own  pulpit.  Soon  afterwards,  the 
substance  of  these  discourses  was  divested  of  its 
original  dress,  and  thrown  into  the  form  of  a 
continued  and  connected  "Treatise  concerning 
Religious  Affections. "  This  volume  was  first 
published  in  1746.  It  was  immediately  repub- 
lished  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  drew  from  the 
friends  of  enlightened,  Scriptural  piety,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  the  warmest  praises  and 
thanks. 

This  work,  as  most  of  the  friends  of  vital  piety 
agree,  is  not  only  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  very 
first  rank  of  treatises  on  practical  religion,  but 
many  consider  it  as  occupying  the  first  place  in 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  89 

the  list.  It  is  certainly  a  noble  monument  of  spir 
itual  skill,  wisdom,  and  fidelity.  As  a  thorough, 
systematic,  comprehensive,  and  richly  instructive 
view  of  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  it  may  be 
safely  said,  it  has  no  superior.  The  first  princi 
ples,  as  well  as  the  practical  details  of  vital  piety, 
are  delineated  as  by  a  workman  that  "  needed  not 
to  be  ashamed,"  and  qualified  "  rightly  to  divide 
the  word  of  truth."  It  is  probable  that  the  dis 
criminating  marks  of  true  and  false  religion  were 
never  found  drawn  with  a  stronger,  or  a  more  dis 
tinct  and  faithful  hand,  in  any  uninspired  volume, 
than  in  this  work.  The  degree  of  favor  which  it 
has  received  for  nearly  a  century  among  all  evan 
gelical  denominations,  and  which,  amidst  all  the 
changes  of  fashion  and  taste  in  reading,  it  retains 
to  the  present  hour,  and  that  in  a  measure  rather 
increasing  than  diminishing,  is  certainly  a  very 
extraordinary  attestation  of  its  excellence. 

The  intimate  friendship  which  subsisted  be 
tween  Mr.  Edwards,  and  the  celebrated  Mr.  Da 
vid  Brainerd,  missionary  to  the  Indians,  is  well 
known.  Their  acquaintance  began  in  September, 
1743,  when  Mr.  Edwards  was  at  New  Haven,  at- 
.eiding  the  annual  Commencement.  Mr.  Brain 
erd  had  fallen  under  the  severe  discipline  of  the 
college,  in  consequence  of  some  indiscreet  remarks, 
uttered  in  the  ardor  of  his  religious  zeal,  respecting 
trie  opposition  of  two  of  the  faculty  to  the  preach- 


90  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

ing  of  Mr.  Whitefield.  For  these  remarks,  in 
those  days  of  excitement  and  heat,  he  was  publicly 
expelled.  This  event  had  occurred  early  in  the 
winter  of  the  preceding  year,  when  he  was  in  his 
third  year  in  college.  Brainerd  was  now  at  New 
Haven  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  a  reconciliation 
with  the  faculty,  and  requesting  the  privilege  of 
graduating  with  the  class  from  which  he  had  been 
ejected.  For  this  purpose  he  made  a  very  explicit 
and  humble  acknowledgment  of  his  fault,  and  im 
plored  forgiveness.  But,  though  his  own  request 
was  fortified  by  the  intercession  of  a  number  of  re 
spectable  friends  and  graduates  of  the  college,  it 
failed  of  success.  Mr.  Edwards  deeply  sympa 
thized  with  him  in  his  wishes  and  his  failure  ;  and, 
in  the  course  of  their  interviews,  had  so  many  op 
portunities  of  witnessing  the  humility,  the  meek 
ness,  and  the  deep  and  tender  conscientiousness 
of  this  young  servant  of  Christ,  that  a  foundation 
was  now  laid  for  a  most  endeared  friendship  be 
tween  them  ;  a  friendship  which  brought  Mr. 
Brainerd  to  spend  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
time  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Edwards,  and  finally, 
four  years  after  their  acquaintance  began,  to  die 
under  his  hospitable  roof. 

In  1744,  a  number  of  ministers  belonging  to 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  among  whom  were  all  the 
correspondents  of  Mr.  Edwards,  deeply  impressed 
with  the  conviction  that  the  state  of  the  church 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  91 

and  the  *vorld  called  loudly  for  united  and  extra 
ordinary  prayer  to  God,  "  that  he  would  deliver 
the  nations  from  their  miseries,  and  fill  the  earth 
with  his  glory,"  communicated  to  Mr.  Edwards  a 
proposal  for  that  purpose.  The  plan  which  they 
proposed  was,  that,  for  the  ensuing  two  years,  all 
Christians,  universally,  who  chose  to  concur  in  the 
exercise,  should  set  apart  a  port'on  of  time,  on 
Saturday  evening  and  Sabbath  morning,  every 
week,  to  be  spent  in  special  and  united  prayer  for 
the  objects  specified ;  and  that  they  should  still 
more  solemnly  observe  a  stated  day  in  each  quar 
ter  of  the  year,  to  be  spent  either  in  private,  social, 
or  public  prayer,  as  the  case  might  be,  for  the 
effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  church  and  the 
world. 

Mr.  Edwards  received  this  proposal  with  warm 
approbation,  and  immediately  addressed  himself  to 
the  task  of  communicating  and  earnestly  recom 
mending  it  to  the  American  churches.  The  plan 
was  adopted  and  acted  upon  by  a  number  of  the 
ministers  and  churches  of  New  England.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  two  years,  during  which  it  was 
proposed  to  continue  this  united  and  extraordinary 
prayer,  another  communication  came  from  Scot 
land,  proposing  the  continuance  of  the  sacred  en 
terprise  for  an  indefinite  period.  Mr.  Edwards 
again  heartily  seconded  the  plan,  and,  in  1746, 
for  the  purpose  of  promoting  it,  first  preached  a 


92  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

series  of  sermons  on  the  subjec  to  his  own  people, 
and  soon  afterwards  published  them,  in  the  form 
of  a  treatise,  entitled,  "  An  Humble  Attempt  to 
promote  Explicit  Agreement  and  Visible  Union 
among  God's  People,  in  Extraordinary  Prayer  for 
the  Revival  of  Religion,  and  the  Advancement  of 
Christ's  Kingdom  on  Earth,  pursuant  to  Scripture 
Promises  and  Prophecies  concerning  the  Last 
Time."  This  work  was  immediately  reprinted  in 
England  and  in  Scotland,  and  had  a  wide  circula 
tion  there,  as  well  as  in  this  country.  The  union 
proposed  was  adopted  and  maintained  by  many  of 
the  American  churches,  for  more  than  half  a  cen 
tury  ;  until,  finally,  the  "  Monthly  Concert  in 
Prayer,"  for  the  revival  of  religion,  and  the  con 
version  of  the  world,  was  proposed  by  some  pious 
ministers  of  England,  in  1784,  to  be  observed  on 
the  first  Monday  evening  of  every  month  ;  which 
gradually  gained  ground  in  the  religious  commu 
nity,  at  home  and  abroad,  until  it  has  come  to  be 
extensively  adopted  by  the  churches  in  every 
quarter  of  the  globe. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  a  treatise  de 
signed  to  answer  the  purpose  contemplated  by  the 
"  Humble  Attempt,"  just  alluded  to,  would  have 
been  constructed  on  the  principles  of  an  epheme 
ral  production,  short,  animating,  and  intended  to 
arouse,  rather  than  to  instruct.  But  it  really 
seemed  as  if  Mr.  Edwards  was  incapable  of  doing 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  93 

any  thing  superficially,  or  upon  a  small  scale. 
Whatever  he  undertook  to  discuss  at  all,  he  was 
constrained  to  discuss  profoundly  and  thoroughly  ; 
presenting  it  in  all  its  aspects  ;  meeting  all  its 
difficulties ;  anticipating  and  answering  all  objec 
tions  ;  prostrating  all  its  adversaries  ;  and  not  only 
appearing  a  conqueror,  but  "  more  than  a  con 
queror."  Charles  the  Second,  of  England,  is  re 
ported  to  have  said  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Barrow, 
that  "  he  was  the  most  unfair  preacher  he  ever 
heard ;  for  that,  when  he  undertook  to  treat  any 
subject  in  the  pulpit,  he  never  left  any  thing  to  be 
said  by  any  other  man."  This  remark  really  may 
be  applied  still  more  strongly  to  Mr.  Edwards. 
Instead  of  making  his  "  Humble  Attempt "  a 
pamphlet  of  twenty  or  thirty  pages,  as  most  men 
would  have  done,  he  made  it  a  volume ;  rich, 
instructive,  carefully  reasoned,  and  of  permanent 
value.  He  treats,  with  his  wonted  ability  and 
care,  of  the  nature  and  characteristics  of  the 
"  Latter  Day  Glory  "  ;  of  the  certainty  of  its  fu 
ture  occurrence  ;  of  the  encouragements  to  pray 
and  labor  for  its  hastening,  and  of  the  objections 
which  have  been  urged  against  a  compliance  with 
the  duty  recommended.  No  production  of  his 
pen  was  destined  to  "  perish  in  the  using."  On 
all  subjects,  he  wrote,  not  for  his  contemporaries 
alone,  but  for  posterity. 

Mr.  David  Brainerd,  soon  after  Mr.  Edwards's 


94  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

acquaintance  with  him  commenced  in  1743,  as 
before  related,  engaged  in  missionary  labor  among 
the  Indians,  in  different  settlements,  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  This  labor  he 
pursued,  amidst  the  pressure  of  disease  and  many 
discouragements,  for  more  than  three  years,  with 
a  zeal,  diligence,  self-denial,  and  perseverance, 
which  have  seldom  had  any  parallel  in  the  history 
of  missions,  and  with  a  very  gratifying  measure  of 
success,  especially  in  regard  to  that  portion  of  the 
Indians  which  was  located  at  what  is  now  called 
Crosswicks,  in  New  Jersey. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1747,  that  devoted 
young  missionary,  after  taking  leave  of  the  In 
dians  in  the  preceding  March,  in  consequence  of 
declining  health,  and  visiting  some  of  his  relatives 
and  friends  in  Connecticut,  went  to  Northampton, 
having  been  invited  by  Mr.  Edwards  to  take  up 
his  abode  at  his  house.  He  spent  a  part  of  the 
ensuing  summer  in  travelling  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health ;  but,  continuing  to  decline,  he  returned  to 
Northampton,  toward  the  close  of  the  following 
July,  and,  gradually  sinking  under  the  power  of  a 
consumptive  disease,  closed  his  life  in  the  bosom 
of  Mr.  Edwards's  family,  on  the  9th  of  October, 
1747,  in  the  30th  year  of  his  age.  Mr.  Edwards 
preached  the  sermon  at  his  funeral,  from  2  Cor 
v.  8,  which  was  speedily  published,  and  which 
now  appears  in  his  collected  "  Works,"  under  thp 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  95 

title,  "  True  Saints,  when  absent  from  the  Body, 
are  present  with  the  Lord." 

The  circumstances  of  Mr.  Brainerd  dying  under 
Mr.  Edwards's  roof,  and  committing  to  his  care 
his  Diary  and  all  his  other  papers,  added  to  the 
warm  Christian  friendship  which  subsisted  between 
them,  naturally  led  Mr.  Edwards  to  form  the 
plan  of  writing  and  publishing  an  extended  Me 
moir  of  that  devoted  young  missionary.  Accord 
ingly,  he  undertook  this  service,  and  prepared  the 
volume  which  was  published  at  Boston  in  1749, 
under  the  following  title,  "  An  Account  of  the 
Life  of  the  late  Reverend  David  Brainerd,  Mis 
sionary  to  the  Indians,  from  the  Honorable  Society 
in  Scotland,  for  the  Propagation  of  Christian 
Knowledge  ;  and  Pastor  of  a  Church  of  Chris 
tian  Indians  in  New  Jersey."  In  this  volume,  as 
in  all  his  other  works,  the  author  treats  of  nothing 
slightly  or  cursorily.  His  object  evidently  was  to 
render  it  as  richly  instructive  in  practical  Chris 
tianity,  and  as  luminous  and  safe  a  guide  to  anx 
ious  inquirers,  as  possible. 

Brainerd  was,  probably,  one  of  the  most  deeply 
pious  men  of  his  time.  No  one  can  peruse  his 
Diary,  which  makes  up  so  considerable  a  portion 
of  this  volume,  without  perceiving  that  he  had  a 
depth  of  humility,  an  habitual  tenderness  of  con 
science,  an  elevation  of  sentiment  and  affection, 
and  an  insatiable  thirst  after  the  promotion  of  the 


96  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  the  salvation  of  men, 
which  but  few  men  have  ever  manifested.  One 
feature  of  his  character,  and  one  only,  seemed  to 
demand  special  caution  on  the  part  of  his  biogra 
pher.  His  natural  temperament  was  inclined  to 
melancholy.  This  infirmity  gave  a  tincture  to 
most  of  his  mental  operations,  and  is  distinctly 
perceptible  in  many  of  his  religious  exercises. 
This  circumstance  called  for  great  caution  and 
spiritual  skill,  in  holding  up  his  character  to  view 
for  the  instruction  of  others. 

In  executing  his  task,  Mr.  Edwards  has  acquit 
ted  himself  in  a  manner  equally  honorable  to  his 
piety  and  his  wisdom.  He  has  exhibited  Brainerd 
peculiarly  self-denied,  consecrated,  and  heavenly- 
minded  as  he  was.  He  has  shown  him  to  us  as 
an  example  of  a  mind  "tremulously  apprehensive 
of  sin  ;  loathing  it  in  every  form,  and  for  its  own 
sake  ;  avoiding  even  the  appearance  of  evil ;  ris 
ing  habitually  above  all  terrestrial  considerations ; 
daily  advancing  in  holiness  ;  finding  his  only  en 
joyment  in  seeking  the  glory  of  God ;  "  and  con 
strained  by  the  love  of  Christ,  as  "  the  ruling 
passion  "  of  his  life  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  has 
faithfully  put  his  readers  on  their  guard  against  the 
prominent  infirmity  of  the  character  which  he  un 
dertook  to  delineate.  The  "  Reflections  "  on  the 
Memoirs  of  Brainerd,  are  rich  and  masterly.  And 
the  whole  work  is  one  of  those,  which  ought  to  be 


JONATHAN     EDWAnUS.  97 

studied  by  every  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and 
every  candidate  for  the  sacred  office.  Few  un 
inspired  books  are  better  adapted  to  expose  enthu 
siasm  and  every  kind  of  spurious  religion,  and  to 
"  try  the  spirits  "  of  men,  and  especially  of  min 
isters  of  the  gospel,  "  whether  they  are  of  God." 

Mr.  Edwards  was  now  continuing  to  maintain  a 
diligent  and  pleasant  correspondence  with  a  num 
ber  of  friends  in  Scotland,  to  which  reference  was 
before  made.  To  Mr.  McCulloch,  Mr.  Gillespie, 
Mr.  Willison,  and  particularly  to  Dr.  Erskine,  he 
seems  to  have  written  about  this  time  frequently 
and  largely.  The  last-named  gentleman,  especial 
ly,  entered  with  zeal  and  eagerness  into  all  Mr. 
Edwards's  plans  of  literary  and  theological  enter 
prise  ;  procured  and  sent  him  a  number  of  books, 
which  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  American  libra 
ries  or  bookstores  ;  and  thus  not  a  little  facilitated 
his  inquiries,  and  the  prosecution  of  his  labors  as 
an  author. 

The  influence  of  this  correspondence  too,  on 
Mr.  Edwards's  own  mind,  was,  no  doubt,  happy. 
He  found,  that  his  works  were  received  with  deep 
respect  and  gratitude  on  the  other  side  of  the  At 
lantic.  To  a  mind  so  peculiarly  modest  as  his, 
the  numerous  testimonies  of  this  fact  must  have 
imparted  a  gratifying  impulse,  and  given  him  new 
encouragement  to  proceed  in  his  labors.  The  in 
telligence,  also,  which  he  was  frequently  receiving 

i.— 7 


'98  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

from  these  correspondents,  respecting  the  state 
of  the  churches  in  distant  parts  of  the  world,  and 
the  doctrinal  instruction,  arid  other  means,  by 
which  genuine  piety  appeared  to  be  promoted, 
served  to  enlarge  his  interest,  as  well  as  his  knowl 
edge,  in  regard  to  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and 
greatly  to  confirm  his  confidence  in  that  Scriptural 
system,  to  the  propagation  of  which  he  had  devot 
ed  his  life.  At  the  same  time,  while  Mr.  Ed 
wards  himself  was  thus  benefited,  it  was  made 
evident,  by  this  correspondence,  that  the  printed 
works  and  the  letters  of  Mr.  Edwards  were  doing 
much  good  in  Great  Britain,  by  promoting  the 
cause  of  truth  and  of  vital  piety  wherever  they 
were  read,  and  by  strengthening  the  hands  of 
those  beyond  the  Atlantic,  who  were  like-minded 
with  himself;  and  who,  by  means  of  their  Ameri 
can  correspondent,  were  kept  constantly  informed 
of  the  deeply  interesting  scenes  which  were  pass 
ing  in  the  new  world. 

From  this  correspondence  the  fact  is  ascer 
tained,  that  Mr.  Edwards,  several  years  before  he 
left  Northampton,  had  planned  a  work  which  re 
sulted  in  his  volume  on  the  "  Freedom  of  the 
Will."  In  his  first  letter  to  Dr.  Erskine,  dated  in 
1747,  he  says  to  his  revered  correspondent ;  "  I 
have  thought  of  writing  something  particularly  and 
largely  on  the  Arminiari  controversy,  in  distinct 
discourses  on  the  various  points  in  dispute,  to  be 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  99 

published  successively,  beginning  first  with  a  dis 
course  concerning  the  Freedom  of  the  Will  and 
Moral  Agency ;  endeavoring  fully  and  thorough 
ly  to  state  and  discuss  those  points  of  liberty  and 
necessity,  moral  and  physical  inability,  efficacious 
grace,  and  the  ground  of  virtue  and  vice,  reward 
and  punishment,  blame  and  praise,  with  regard  to 
the  dispositions  and  actions  of  reasonable  crea 
tures." 

Such  was  the  first  intimation  of  the  plan  of  that 
great  work.  And,  as  his  well-known  habit  was  to 
make  abundant  use  of  his  pen  in  meditating  on 
the  subjects  which  occupied  his  attention,  the 
probability  is,  that  he  began  to  write  much  on  the 
subject  of  the  work  in  question,  even  thus  early ; 
not  in  the  actual  composition  of  the  treatise,  as  it 
afterwards  appeared,  but  in  collecting  materials, 
noting  down  thoughts,  and  maturing  his  views  on 
the  great  principles,  which  he  afterwards  placed  in 
so  strong  a  light.  Such  a  mind  as  his  could  not 
be  idle,  when  it  had  once  formed  so  noble  and 
interesting  an  outline. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1749,  Mr.  Edwards  was 
called  to  preach  at  the  ordination  of  the  Reverend 
Job  Strong,  in  the  town  of  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire.  On  that  occasion,  he  delivered  a 
sermon  on  John  xiii.  15,  16,  entitled,  "  Christ  the 
Example  of  Ministers."  It  was  soon  afterwards 


100  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

published,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the  eighth  vol 
ume  of  his  works. 

In  the  correspondence  of  Mr.  Edwards  with 
his  Scottish  friends,  he  was,  about  this  time,  in 
volved  in  an  amicable  controversy  with  one  of 
their  number,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Gillespie,  of 
Carnock,  in  respect  to  some  of  the  sentiments 
taught  in  the  volume  on  "  Religious  Affections." 
Mr.  Gillespie  called  in  question  a  number  of  the 
positions  on  practical  subjects,  taken  by  Mr.  Ed 
wards.  This  led  to  an  extended  epistolary  dis 
cussion  between  the  years  1746  and  1750,  in 
which  the  clearness,  the  comprehensive  views, 
and  the  excellent  spirit  of  Mr.  Edwards  appear  to 
great  advantage.  His  superiority  to  his  corre 
spondent  is  very  striking,  and  his  defence  of  his 
own  work  highly  instructive  and  satisfactory. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1748,  Colonel  John 
Stoddard,  a  son  of  Mr.  Edwards's  grandfather  and 
colleague,  one  of  the  most  important  members  of 
the  church  at  Northampton,  was  removed  by 
death.  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Edwards  delivered 
a  sermon  from  Ezekiel  xix.  12,  which  was  soon 
afterwards  published  under  the  following  title ; 
"  God's  awful  Judgments  in  breaking  the  strong 
Rods  of  the  Community."  When  the  sermon 
was  delivered  and  published,  it  is  probable  that 
neither  the  author  nor  those  who  solicited  its  pub- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  101 

lieation,  were  adequately  aware  of  the  exemplifi 
cation  which  was  soon  to  be  given  of  the  justness 
of  its  title.  Colonel  Stoddard  was  one  of  the 
most  venerable  and  influential  men  in  Massachu 
setts.  He  was  greatly  distinguished  for  the  vigor 
of  his  understandirigj  the  energy  and  decision  of 
his  character,  the  fervor  of  his  piety,  and  the 
steadfastness  of  his  support  of  every  thing  friendly 
to  evangelical  truth  and  order.  His  removal  was, 
indeed,  taking  away  one  of  the  main  pillars  of  so 
ciety.  The  greatness  of  his  loss,  and  the  want  of 
men  like-minded,  the  subject  of  this  memoir  was 
destined,  in  the  course  of  a  few  short  months, 
painfully  to  experience,  in  the  troubles  which 
arose  to  shake  the  church  of  Northampton  to  its 
centre 


102  AMERICA.N     BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Origin  and  History  of  his  Troubles  at  North 
ampton.  —  Publication  of  his  Work  on  Church 
Communion.  — —  Dismission  from  his  Pastoral 
Charge.  —  Invitation  to  settle  at  StocJcbridge. 

UNTIL  the  year  1744,  Mr.  Edwards  seems  to 
have  had  a  firm  hold  of  the  confidence  and  affec 
tions  of  his  congregation.  The  friends  of  piety 
among  them  regarded  him  with  the  warmest  ap 
probation  and  love,  and  considered  themselves  as 
eminently  favored  with  the  labors  of  an  able  and 
faithful  minister  of  Christ.  Large  numbers  of 
them  owned  him  as  their  spiritual  father,  and  felt 
toward  him  that  peculiar  attachment  which  such 
a  filial  relation  is  adapted  to  inspire.  And  even 
the  worldly  and  impenitent  part  of  his  charge, 
while  they  felt ,  themselves  reproved  by  the  holi 
ness  of  Jhjs,  life,.  ajid-the  purity  of  his  doctrine, 
were  yet  proud;  of  .their  minister,  as,  by  the  ac 
knowledgment  of  all,  one  of  the  greatest  and  best 
men  in  the  country.  His  consort  and  family,  too, 
had  won  the  affections  of  the  people,  and  were 
eminently  popular.  Up  to  the  year  just  men 
tioned,  perhaps  no  minister  in  New  England  could 
be  considered  as  more  likely  to  live  and  die  be- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  103 

loved  and  honored  by  his  congregation.  But 
more  than  once  have  the  loudest  "  hosannas  "  of 
praise  been  immediately  succeeded  by  the  furious 
denunciation,  "  Crucify  !  Crucify  !  "  This  versa 
tility  Mr.  Edwards  experienced.  In  the  year  just 
mentioned,  an  event  occurred,  which  in  some  de 
gree  alienated  from  him  a  number  of  individuals, 
and  which,  though  somewhat  remotely,  yet  un 
doubtedly  prepared  the  way  for  that  rupture,  which 
terminated  in  his  departure  from  Northampton. 

The  occurrence  alluded  to  was  this.  It  being 
credibly  reported,  that  a  number  of  the  young 
people,  members  of  his  church,  had  in  their  pos 
session  licentious  books,  which  they  were  employ 
ing  for  immoral  purposes,  he  thought  it  his  duty 
to  take  notice  of  the  rumor ;  and,  being  satisfied 
that  it  was  well  founded,  he  prepared  and  de 
livered  a  solemn  and  pointed  sermon  against  the 
sin  charged  on  the  young  people.  After  the  ser 
mon,  he  communicated  to  the  members  of  the 
church  the  information  which  he  had  received. 
They  voted,  with  great  unanimity,  that  the  matter 
ought  to  be  judicially  inquired  into,  and  appointed 
a  committee  of  their  own  number  to  cooperate 
with  the  pastor  in  making  the  inquiry.  But  when 
the  pastor,  after  the  appointment  of  this  com 
mittee,  publicly  read  the  names  of  the  persons 
who  were  requested  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the 
committee  either  as  accused  persons,  or  to  bear 


104  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

testimony  against  the  accused,  without  discrimi 
nating  the  classes  in  which  the  persons  named 
respectively  stood,  it  appeared  that  there  was 
scarcely  a  leading  family  in  the  whole  town  to 
which  some  of  the  persons  summoned,  either  as 
inculpated,  or  as  witnesses,  did  not  belong,  or 
were  not  nearly  related. 

This  disclosure  produced  an  immediate  reaction. 
A  majority  of  the  church  determined  not  to  pro 
ceed  in  an  inquiry  which  appeared  likely  to  give 
pain  to  so  many  families,  and  to  issue  to  the 
discredit  of  so  many  of  their  children  ;  and,  as 
attention  to  children  furnishes  one  of  the  surest 
avenues  to  the  hearts  of  their  parents,  so  nothing 
is  more  apt  to  revolt  and  alienate,  and  even  to 
produce  intense  hostility  in  the  minds  of  parents, 
than  any  thing  which  threatens  the  character  or 
the  comfort  of  their  children.  The  consequences 
were  unhappy.  A  number  of  the  young  people 
were  incurably  disaffected  to  their  pastor.  Too 
many  of  their  parents  sympathized  with  this  feel 
ing.  The  discipline  of  the  church  was  openly  set 
at  defiance.  The  hands  of  Mr.  Edwards  were 
greatly  weakened.  His  ministry,  from  that  time, 
was  attended  with  but  little  success.  The  church 
manifestly  declined  both  in  zeal  and  in  morals. 
And  a  foundation  seemed  thenceforward  to  be 
laid  for  that  irritable  and  mutinous  state  of  the 
popular  feeling,  which  issued,  in  a  few  years,  in 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  105 

most  extraordinary  excitement  and  violence,  and, 
finally,  in  the  ejection  from  his  pastoral  charge  of 
a  great  and  good  man,  "  of  whom  his  people  were 
not  worthy." 

Whether  the  course  taken  on  this  occasion  by 
Mr.  Edwards  was  the  wisest  that  could  have  been 
adopted,  or  whether  the  revulsion  which  occurred 
in  the  minds  of  a  body  of  parents,  on  finding  so 
many  of  their  children  painfully  implicated,  was 
not  such  as  ought  to  have  been  anticipated  and 
guarded  against,  are  questions,  which  it  were  now 
unavailing  to  ask,  and  not  easy  to  answer.  But 
that  a  people,  who  had  witnessed  so  much  evi 
dence  of  the  purity  of  their  pastor's  motives  and 
the  benevolence  of  his  heart,  a  people  who  had 
seen  so  much  evidence  of  a  peculiar  blessing  at 
tending  on  his  ministry,  should  have  been  capable 
of  treating  him  with  so  much  harshness  and  injus 
tice,  especially  when,  a  short  time  before,  they 
had  unanimously  concurred  with  him  in  judgment 
that  something  ought  to  be  done,  is  a  memorable 
example  of  the  blindness  and  violence  of  popular 
feeling,  even  in  a  population  ordinarily  of  the  most 
enlightened,  sober,  and  reflecting  character. 

The  rankling  uneasiness  and  alienation  produced 
by  this  case  of  discipline,  or  rather  of  frustrated 
discipline,  was  soon  succeeded  by  another  diffi 
culty  still  more  serious  and  intractable  in  its  na 
ture.  The  church  of  Northampton  had  been 


106  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

originally  founded,  as  all  the  early  churches  of 
I\ew  England  were,  on  the  principle  of  strict  com 
munion,  that  is,  a  profession  of  real  friendship  to 
Christ  was  considered  as  an  indispensable  qualifi 
cation  for  communion.  Of  course,  none  were  ad 
mitted  to  church-membership  but  those  who  were 
regarded,  in  a  judgment  of  charity,  as  truly  pious. 
The  venerable  Mr.  Stoddard,  the  grandfather  and 
colleague  of  Mr.  Edwards,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  effected  an  alteration 
in  the  opinion  and  practice  of  the  church  in  rela 
tion  to  this  matter.  He  adopted  and  preached  the 
opinion,  that  the  Lord's  Supper  was  designed  to 
be  a  converting  ordinance  ;  that  genuine  piety 
was  not  necessary  in  order  to  a  proper  and  accep 
table  approach  to  it ;  and  consequently  that  persons 
who  knew  themselves  to  be  entirely  destitute  of 
faith  and  repentance,  if  they  were  sober  and  moral, 
might,  with  propriety,  unite  themselves  with  the 
visible  professing  people  of  God.  This  doctrine, 
and  a  corresponding  practice,  Mr.  Stoddard  suc 
ceeded  in  establishing  in  his  church,  not,  indeed, 
without  considerable  opposition  both  among  his 
own  people  and  from  abroad.  Some  pious  min 
isters,  indeed,  opposed  it  with  warmth,  as  a  most 
unhappy  departure  from  the  spirit  and  purity  of 
Christian  fellowship.  But  it  was  soon  peaceably 
acquiesced  in  by  the  church  of  Northampton,  and 
adopted  by  a  number  of  other  churches  in  New 
England. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  107 

For  this  change  it  is  not  difficult  to  account. 
Almost  all  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  were 
professedly  pious  men,  and  in  full  communion  in 
the  church.  Especially  were  all  the  leaders  and 
guides  of  society,  as  a  matter  of  course,  chosen 
from  among  the  professors  of  religion.  No  one 
else  was  thought  of  for  a  public  station.  Hence, 
in  process  of  time,  church-mem  Dership  came  to 
be  considered  as  an  indispensable  qualification  for 
civil  office.  Not  to  be  a  communicant,  was  a 
kind  of  public  stigma,  which  effectually  prevented 
any  one  from  being  invested  with  the  honors  of 
the  state,  especially  those  of  the  higher  grade. 
And  therefore,  when  the  spirit  and  prevalence 
of  piety  had  greatly  declined,  the  old  habit  ren 
dered  many  who  had  no  real  love  for  religion,  still 
desirous  of  being  regularly  enrolled  as  members 
of  the  church.  This  feeling,  of  course,  as  it 
probably  had  no  small  influence  in  giving  birth 
to  the  lax  doctrine  in  question,  so  it,  no  doubt, 
served  to  render  that  doctrine  highly  acceptable 
to  worldly  men.  Nor  can  we  wonder,  not  only 
that  the  doctrine  in  question  should  be  highly 
popular  among  the  votaries  of  secular  ambition, 
but  that  the  strongest  worldly  prejudices  and  in 
terests  should  be  embarked  in  its  support,  and 
that  all  attempts  to  set  it  aside  should  be,  to  a 
large  portion  of  the  community,  peculiarly  odious. 

Facts  of  this  kind   are   highly  instructive   and 


108  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

admonitory.  No  alliance,  however  indirect  or  re 
mote,  between  the  church  and  the  state,  has  ever 
existed  without  interfering  with  the  purity  of  the 
church,  and  lowering  the  standard  of  piety  The 
moment  a  profession  of  religion  becomes,  in  any 
way,  either  by  direct  civil  enactment,  or  by  the 
force  of  public  sentiment,  a  qualification  for  civil 
office,  a  door  is  opened  for  imparting  to  the  church 
a  worldly  bias,  and  subjecting  it  to  a  worldly  in 
fluence.  From  that  moment,  the  purity  and  sim 
plicity  of  Christian  truth  cannot  fail  to  be  ex 
posed,  and  seldom  fails  to  be  actually  invaded  and 
injured. 

When  Mr.  Edwards  became  the  colleague  of 
his  grandfather,  he  acquiesced  in  the  lax  doctrine 
which  he  found  established,  and  continued  to  act 
in  conformity  with  it  for  twenty  years.  We  are 
told,  indeed,  that,  from  the  first,  he  had  doubts, 
and  that  these  doubts  painfully  increased  until 
the  year  1749,  when  he  formally  disclosed  to  his 
church  his  change  of  opinion,  and  publicly  vindi 
cated  it  by  his  "  Humble  Inquiry  into  the  Rules 
of  the  Word  of  God,  concerning  the  Qualifications 
requisite  to  a  complete  Standing  and  full  Com 
munion  in  the  visible  Christian  Church  ; "  which 
came  from  the  press  in  August  of  that  year.  This 
work  is  generally  considered,  both  by  friends  and 
foes,  as  one  of  the  ablest,  perhaps  the  most  com 
plete  and  powerful,  ever  written  in  support  of  the 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  109 

doctrine  which  it  advocates.  The  public  disclo 
sure  made  by  this  treatise  immediately  threw  the 
congregation  into  a  flame,  and  he  became  the  ob 
ject  of  fierce,  unbridled  resentment.  Though  he 
manifested,  in  all  that  he  said  and  did,  the  deepest 
conscientiousness ;  and  though  he  vindicated  him 
self,  both  from  the  pulpit  and  the  press,  with  all 
the  meekness  and  gentleness  which  so  eminently 
shone  in  his  character ;  still  the  opposition  to  him 
was  heated  ana  unrelenting  to  a  wonderful  degree 
Great  pains  were  taken  to  prevent  the  circula 
tion  and  reading  of  the  book  which  he  had  pub 
lished  for  explaining  and  vindicating  his  senti 
ments.  Finding  this,  he  proposed  to  undertake 
a  more  formal  discussion  of  the  matter  in  con 
troversy  than  he  had  hitherto  undertaken,  in  a 
series  of  sermons  in  his  own  pulpit.  Such  a  dis 
cussion,  however,  the  church,  when  consulted  on 
the  subject,  refused  to  allow,  or  to  hear.  The 
clamor  increased.  The  opposition  became  more 
ardent  and  extended.  Every  proposal  which  he 
made  for  a  calm  hearing,  or  for  an  amicable  ad 
justment  of  the  difficulty,  by  referring  it  to  an 
appropriate  ecclesiastical  council,  was  met  with  a 
resolute  and  acrimonious  refusal.  Notwithstanding 
this  refusal,  he  determined,  with  characteristic  firm 
ness,  whether  the  people  would  hear,  or  whether 
they  would  forbear,  to  proceed  and  discuss  the 
subject  in  controversy  from  his  pulpit.  He  did 


110  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY, 

so  at  considerable  length.  But  very  few  of  the 
members  of  his  own  congregation  attended  the 
discussion.  The  church  was  indeed  crowded  with 
auditors  ;  but  they  were  chiefly  drawn  from  the 
neighboring  churches  ;  a  small  portion,  it  is  prob 
able,  by  concurrence  in  sentiment  with  the  preach 
er,  and  a  deep  interest  in  the  prevalence  of  the 
principle  for  which  he  contended ;  but  a  great 
majority  from  very  different  motives. 

This  discussion,  however,  produced  no  favorable 
effect  on  the  sentiments  or  feelings  of  the  people. 
On  the  contrary,  they  manifested  every  day  a 
stronger  desire  that  Mr.  Edwards  should  withdraw 
from  his  pastoral  charge  among  them,  and  leave 
them  at  liberty  to  choose  another  minister.  For 
this  purpose,  they  urged  that  an  ecclesiastical 
council  should  be  called,  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  Congregational  churches,  to  deliberate  on 
the  case,  and  to  advise  and  sanction  the  dissolution 
of  his  pastoral  relation.  To  this  Mr.  Edwards 
consented,  on  certain  conditions  of  the  most  rea 
sonable  and  equitable  kind.  These  the  congre 
gation  strenuously  opposed,  and  the  selection  and 
assembling  of  a  council  was  delayed  for  a  number 
of  months.  At  length,  however,  on  the  22d  of 
June,  1750,  a  mutual  council  met  at  Northamp 
ton,  and,  after  deliberate  inquiry  and  consideration 
of  the  subject,  decided,  by  a  majority  of  one, 
that  the  diversity  of  opinion  between  him  and  the. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  Ill 

people  of  his  charge  concerning  ecclesiastical  com 
munion,  was  so  serious  and  fixed,  that  the  pastoral 
relation  between  him   and  them  could  no  longer 
with  propriety  be  continued,  and  ought  to  be  dis 
solved  ;  and  they  accordingly  dissolved  it. 

Against  this  decision  the  minority  of  the  council 
entered  a  solemn  protest,  declaring,  that,  in  their 
opinion,  the  difference  between  the  parties  was 
not  so  essential  as  to  render  a  separation  neces 
sary  ;  and  also  that  the  proper  steps  to  heal  the 
breach  and  bring  about  a  reconciliation,  had  not 
been  taken ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  bearing  a 
strong  testimony  to  the  ardent  piety,  faithfulness, 
and  preeminent  qualifications  of  Mr.  Edwards  as 
a  pastor,  and  expressing  a  confident  hope  that, 
though  painfully  separated  from  the  church  at 
Northampton,  he  would  be  acceptable  and  made 
a  rich  and  permanent  blessing  in  some  other  part 
of  the  church. 

In  fomenting  and  extending  this  sad  controversy, 
there  were  individuals  out  of  Northampton  who 
were  bitterly  opposed  to  Mr.  Edwards,  and  ex 
erted  no  small  influence  in  exciting  hostility  against 
him.  Among  these  were  several  members  of  a 
large,  wealthy,  and  influential  family  in  a  neighbor 
ing  town,  kinsmen  of  his  own,  before  alluded  to, 
who  had  been  totally  alienated  from  him  a  number 
of  years  before,  partly  from  private  and  personal 
pique,  and  partly  from  their  opposition  to  his  re- 


112  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

ligious  opinions.  All  the  branches  of  this  family 
manifested  toward  him,  for  a  number  of  years,  a 
most  malignant  spirit,  and  seemed  to  take  peculiar 
delight  in  opposing  and  injuring  him  whenever  it 
was  in  their  power. 

Through  the  whole  of  this  agitating  and  dis 
tressing  scene,  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Edwards  was 
a  signal  example  of  self-possession,  meekness,  and 
patience.  That  the  treatment  he  received  was 
in  a  high  degree  unjust  and  oppressive,  all  im 
partial  beholders  were  agreed.  This  some  of 
those,  who  had  been  leaders  in  the  protracted 
course  of  excitement  and  popular  violence,  after 
wards  acknowledged  with  the  strongest  expres 
sions  of  regret.  He  had  a  few  friends  in  the 
congregation,  who  seem  to  have  concurred  with 
him  in  his  offensive  opinions,  and  who  loved  him 
still.  But  they  were  borne  down  by  an  infuriated 
and  overwhelming  majority.  Nor  was  there  any 
human  tribunal  of  appeal  to  which  the  oppressed 
pastor  could  resort  for  the  redress  of  his  griev 
ances.  The  Congregational  system,  in  such  cases, 
affords  no  adequate  relief.  For,  although  a  coun 
cil  may  be  called  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  dif 
ferences,  yet  the  case  under  consideration  shows 
how  difficult  it  is,  and,  in  some  cases,  how  im 
possible,  to  obtain  any  other  than  an  exparte  coun 
cil.  And,  even  after  it  is  formed  and  convened, 
such  a  body  in  that  system,  has  no  real  authority 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  113 

Its  powers  are  merely  advisory.  Its  advice  may 
be  followed  or  rejected  by  the  parties  at  pleasure. 
And,  although  the  council,  in  this  case,  could  not 
strictly  be  called  an  ex  parte  one,  in  the  technical 
sense  of  that  phrase,  yet  it  was  so  in  reality,  in 
spite  of  every  effort  that  could  be  made  to  have 
it  otherwise.  It  was  made  up  of  a  majority  of 
the  known  opposers  of  Mr.  Edwards,  and  of  some 
who  had  indulged  the  feelings  of  ardent  adver 
saries.  In  all  the  proceedings,  however,  of  the 
people  and  of  the  council,  he  was  enabled  "  in 
patience  to  possess  his  soul."  All  his  communi 
cations  were  marked  with  a  degree  of  dignity, 
mildness,  self-respect,  and  Christian  equity,  which, 
although  they  failed  of  making  any  favorable  im 
pression  on  the  minds  of  an  excited  congregation 
at  the  time,  have  been  ever  since  admired  by 
the  religious  community  as  a  noble  monument  of 
Christian  forbearance  and  submission. 

The  ungrateful  treatment  which  Mr.  Edwards 
received  from  his  people,  and  the  unseemly  vio 
lence  with  which  he  was  ejected  from  his  pas 
toral  charge,  have  frequently,  on  account  of  his 
high  reputation  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  been 
adduced  as  furnishing  a  strong  presumptive  argu 
ment  against  those  forms  of  church  government 
which  vest  in  the  people  the  choice  of  their  own 
ministers,  and  the  power  of  dismissing  them  when 
they  cease  to  be  acceptable.  Remarks  to  this 

i.— 8 


114  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHT 

amount,  very  sweeping  in  their  import,  and  very 
severe  in  their  tone,  have  especially  been  made  by 
British  writers  in  reference  to  this  case.  There 
is,  no  doubt,  some  degree  of  truth  in  these  re 
marks  ;  and  yet  the  use  which  has  been  made 
of  Mr.  Edwards's  case,  under  this  aspect  of  it, 
can  be  admitted  only  in  part.  For,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  the  body  of  the  members  of  every 
church  ought  to  have  the  privilege  of  choosing 
their  own  pastors,  may  be  confidently  maintained 
on  the  ground  both  of  reason  and  Scripture ;  and 
that  no  people  ought  to  be  compelled  to  retain  as 
their  pastor  one  from  whom  they  are  alienated, 
and  who  no  longer  promotes  their  edification,  must 
be  regarded  as  an  undoubted  principle  of  pastoral 
settlement.  The  benefit  of  the  many  must  ever 
be  considered  as  more  important  than  the  con 
venience  and  comfort  of  an  individual. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  there  ought  to  be  some 
regular,  authoritative,  and  known  provision  for  in 
terposing  between  popular  violence,  in  seasons  of 
prejudice  and  passion,  and  an  oppressed  pastor^ 
seems  equally  unquestionable.  Not  for  the  pur 
pose  of  compelling  an  alienated  people  to  retain 
a  pastor  whom  they  had  ceased  to  respect  or 
love ;  but  to  secure  his  rights  to  protect  him  from 
injury,  to  guard  the  people  from  injuring  them 
selves,  and  to  effect  his  separation  from  them 
without  an  infringement  of  any  of  those  laws, 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  115 

which  the  King  of  Zion  has  laid  down  for  the 
government  of  his  church.  Such  a  tribunal  was 
needed  in  the  case  of  this  great  and  good  man. 
He  recognised  the  want  of  it  in  terms  which 
evinced  the  most  feeling  sense  of  its  importance 
But  it  was  not  furnished  by  the  system  of  ecclesi 
astical  order  with  which  he  was  connected,  and 
of  course  he  had  no  official  protection  from  the 
violence  of  popular  excitement. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  people 
of  Northamption  were  far  from  acting  in  this  affair 
from  their  own  unprompted  judgment  and  feelings 
alone.  Many  of  the  pastors  and  magistrates  in  the 
surrounding  country,  feeling  their  own  principles 
and  practice  assailed  by  his  published  opinions, 
entered  into  this  controversy  against  Mr.  Edwards 
with  no  little  warmth,  and  contributed,  it  is  well 
known,  in  a  considerable  degree,  to  kindle  the 
flame  among  his  people,  and  to  excite  them  to 
more  unrelenting  and  violent  measures  than  they 
would,  probably,  have  otherwise  adopted. 

When  the  decision  of  the  mutual  council,  de 
claring  that,  in  their  opinion,  his  pastoral  relation 
ought  to  be  immediately  dissolved,  was  commum  • 
cated  to  Mr.  Edwards,  he  determined,  at  once, 
to  acquiesce  in  it,  and  to  take  leave  of  a  flock  to 
which  he  had  been  so  long  bound  by  ties  of  the 
most  solemn  and  interesting  kind.  For  this  pain- 
fill  event  he  began  immediately  to  prepare,  and 


116  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

in  a  few  days  afterwards  preached  his  farewell 
sermon,  which  was  soon  published  at  the  request 
of  some  of  the  hearers,  and  which  is  found  among 
his  collected  works.  The  deep,  unaffected  solem 
nity  of  this  discourse  ;  the  elevation  and  fidelity 
of  its  sentiments ;  the  pious  solicitude  which  it 
manifests  for  the  best  interest  of  the  people  of 
his  late  charge,  and  its  freedom  from  any  thing 
like  acerbity  of  language  or  spirit,  place  it  in  the 
very  first  rank  of  farewell  sermons.  Like  the 
Master  whom  he  served,  he  appeared,  after  all 
the  unkind  and  violent  treatment  which  he  had 
received,  to  forget  himself,  and  to  be  absorbed  by 
the  tenderest  concern  for  the  everlasting  welfare 
of  his  adversaries.  Indeed  his  whole  conduct  in 
this  trying  affair  presented  an  example  of  disin 
terestedness  and  purity  of  principle  which  has 
seldom  been  equalled. 

It  may  not  appear  obvious  to  some,  why  Mr. 
Edwards,  when  he  found  the  members  of  his 
church  so  fixed  and  ardent  in  their  opposition  to 
his  newly-disclosed  sentiments,  should  still  so  ear 
nestly  desire,  and  so  importunately  urge  them  to 
attend  to  a  further  exhibition  of  them  from  the 
pulpit  and  the  press.  It  was  by  no  means  his 
principal  object  to  disarm  their  resentment,  ana 
retain  his  place.  He  considered  the  doctrine  and 
practice,  which  they  had  hitherto  adopted  and 
pursued,  and  which  he  was  now  constrained  to 


JONATHAN      EDWARDS.  117 

oppose,  as  highly  mischievous  in  their  tendency , 
as  adapted  to  corrupt  the  church  ;  to  inspire  false 
hopes  ;  to  oppose  the  prevalence  of  genuine  piety, 
and,  of  course,  to  destroy  the  souls  of  men.  No 
wonder  that,  under  these  impressions,  he  earnestly 
desired  to  be  heard  in  defence  of  his  principles ; 
that  he  besought  the  people  with  much  entreaty 
to  attend  on  the  discussion ;  and  that,  finding  their 
obstinacy  invincible,  he  was  more  affected  by  their 
opposition  to  what  he  deemed  important  truth, 
than  by  a  concern  for  his  own  comfort. 

The  situation  in  which  Mr.  Edwards  was  now 
placed  was  painful  and  discouraging  in  a  very  high 
degree.  Ejected  from  his  pastoral  charge  ;  de 
prived  of  his  temporal  support ;  thrown  on  the 
world  with  a  large,  increasing,  and  helpless  family ; 
frowned  upon  by  most  of  the  neighboring  min 
isters,  magistrates,  and  churches,  and  having  no 
prospect  of  being  invited  to  any  other  pastoral 
charge,  his  prospects  were  indeed  dark  and  dis 
tressing.  But  the  record  of  his  feelings  at  the 
time  displays  great  equanimity,  founded  in  that 
humble  trust  in  the  sovereign  wisdom  and  benig 
nity  of  God,  of  which  his  whole  life  was  an  emi 
nent  example. 

During  these  painful  and  protracted  difficulties, 
which  agitated,  not  Northampton  merely,  but  a 
large  number  of  the  churches  of  New  England, 
Mr.  Edwards  kept  his  correspondents  in  Scotland 


118  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

constantly  informed  of  his  trials  and  prospects. 
And  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  they  took 
a  deep  interest  in  his  affairs,  not  only  on  account 
of  their  high  estimate  of  his  personal  character, 
but  also  on  account  of  the  important  principles  of 
church-membership  involved  in  the  controversy. 
Their  letters  to  him  on  the  occasion  were  expres 
sive  of  the  warmest  regard  and  sympathy.  Dr. 
Erskine,  with  characteristic  zeal  and  public  spirit, 
went  further.  He  invited  Mr.  Edwards  to  Scot 
land,  and  urged  him  to  take  a  pastoral  charge  in  a 
church  there,  where  his  talents  and  worth  would 
be  likely  to  be  more  justly  appreciated.  To  this1 
proposal,  the  following  is  the  reply  of  his  perse 
cuted  American  friend. 

"  You  are  pleased,  dear  Sir,  very  kindly  to  ask 
me  whether  I  could  sign  the  Westminster  Confes 
sion  of  Faith,  and  submit  to  the  Presbyterian  forrp 
of  church  government ;  and  to  offer  to  use  you; 
influence  to  procure  a  call  for  me  to  some  congre 
gation  in  Scotland.  I  should  be  very  ungrateful, 
if  I  were  not  thankful  for  such  kindness  and 
friendship.  As  to  my  subscribing  to  the  substance 
of  the  Westminster  Confession,  there  would  be 
no  difficulty ;  and  as  to  the  Presbyterian  govern 
ment,  I  have  long  been  out  of  conceit  of  our  un 
settled,  independent,  confused  way  of  church  gov 
ernment  in  this  land  ;  and  the  Presbyterian  way 
has  ever  appeared  tc  me  most  agreeable  to  the 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  119 

word  of  God,  and  the  reason  and  nature  of  things ; 
though  I  cannot  say  that  I  think  that  the  Presby 
terian  government  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  is 
so  perfect,  that  it  cannot,  in  some  respects,  be 
mended.* 

"  But  as  to  ray  removing,  with  my  numerous 
family,  over  the  Atlantic,  it  is,  I  acknowledge,  at 
tended  with  many  difficulties  that  I  shrink  at. 
Among  other  things,  this  is  very  considerable,  that 
it  would  be  on  uncertainties,  whether  my  gifts 
and  administrations  would  suit  any  congregation, 
that  should  send  for  me  without  trial ;  and  so 
great  a  thing  as  such  a  removal,  had  need  be  on 
some  certainty  as  to  that  matter.  If  the  expecta 
tions  of  a  congregation  were  so  great,  and  they 
were  so  confident  of  my  qualifications,  as  to  call 
me  at  a  venture,  having  never  seen  nor  heard  me, 
their  disappointment  might  possibly  be  so  much 
the  greater,  and  they  the  more  uneasy,  after  ac 
quaintance  and  trial.  My  own  country  is  not  so 
dear  to  me  but  that,  if  there  were  an  evident  pros 
pect  of  being  more  serviceable  to  Zion's  interests 
elsewhere,  I  could  forsake  it.  And  I  think  my 
wife  is  fully  of  this  disposition." 

For  the  reasons  mentioned  in  this  communica 
tion,  Mr.  Edwards  did  not  comply  with  Dr.  Ers- 
kine's  proposal  to  remove  to  Scotland,  but  deter- 

*  He,  no  doubt,  referred,  in  this  remark,  to  its  various 
points  of  connexion  with  the  civil  government 


120  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

mined  to  await  the  direction  of  Providence  in  hiss 
own  country.  He  remained,  with  his  family,  at 
Northampton  nearly  six  months  after  he  was  dis 
missed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  not  knowing 
whither  to  direct  his  course,  or  how  to  dispose  of 
his  evangelical  labors. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  this  period,  when  the 
church  from  which  he  had  been  dismissed  was 
without  a  supply  for  its  pulpit,  Mr.  Edwards  was 
invited  to  preach ;  but  still  the  invitation  was  al 
ways  given  with  manifest  reluctance,  and  with  a 
marked  purpose  to  avoid  any  engagement,  from 
week  to  week,  for  more  than  a  single  Sabbath. 
After  a  short  time,  however,  such  was  the  hos 
tile  feeling  of  the  people,  that,  toward  the  latter 
end  of  November  following  his  dismission,  the 
committee  for  supplying  the  pulpit  called  the 
congregation  together  for  the  purpose  of  ascertain 
ing  whether  it  was  their  wish  that  Mr.  Edwards 
should  be  invited,  in  any  case,  to  supply  their  pul 
pit.  A  large  majority  voted,  "  that  it  was  not 
agreeable  to  their  minds,  that  he  should  preach 
among  them."  From  that  time  forth,  when  he 
was  in  the  town,  and  there  was  no  other  minister 
to  supply  the  pulpit,  the  members  of  the  church 
carried  on  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  sanctua 
ry,  and  consented  to  be  without  preaching,  rather 
than  invite  him  to  address  them  ! 

A   number  of  those,  who  took  the  lead  in  this 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  121 

course  of  malignant  and  shameful  violence,  were 
afterwards  convinced  of  their  error  and  sin,  and 
acknowledged  it  with  the  deepest  humiliation. 
One  of  them,  especially,  a  lawyer  of  talents  and 
eloquence,  who  was  relied  upon  as  the  principal 
advocate  of  the  infuriated  majority,  a  few  years 
afterwards,  not  only  saw  the  mistake  and  the  crim 
inality  of  his  course,  but  humbled  himself  before 
God  and  the  church  in  a  long  letter,  still  on  rec 
ord,  which  breathes  a  spirit  of  self-reproach  and 
contrition  peculiarly  marked  and  intense  in  its 
character. 

Justice  also  requires  that  it  be  stated,  that 
amidst  these  scenes  of  bitter  and  intractable  oppo 
sition  from  the  majority  of  the  church,  it  is  not  to 
be  understood  that  Mr.  Edwards  had  no  decided 
friends  left  among  the  people.  This  was  by  no 
means  the  case.  There  was  a  small  but  firm 
and  affectionate  minority,  who  adhered  to  him 
with  strong  and  unalterable  attachment,  deeply 
lamented  the  unworthy  treatment  which  he  re- 
eived,  and  had  every  disposition  to  sustain  and 
comfort  him  to  the  utmost  of  their  power.  The 
number  of  his  open  friends  and  advocates  in 
the  congregation  would,  indeed,  have  been  much 
larger,  had  not  the  rage  and  violence  of  the  ma 
jority  been  such,  that  whoever  appeared  friendly 
to  him,  became  immediately  odious,  and  an  object 
of  much  opposition,  from  the  mass  of  the  people 


122  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  the  odium  attempted  to 
be  heaped  upon  them,  the  small  and  affectionate 
minority  just  referred  to,  continued  his  firm  and 
active  friends.  They  urged  him  to  remain  in  the 
town ;  insisted  that  they  were  able  and  willing  to 
support  him ;  and  proposed  that  they  should  form 
another  church,  of  which  he  should  take  the  pas 
toral  charge.  To  this  Mr.  Edwards,  though  he 
had  no  other  eligible  prospect  of  settlement  or  sup 
port,  strongly  objected.  He  feared  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  him  to  remain  in  the  town,  in 
any  connexion,  without  perpetuating  and  increasing 
the  spirit  of  strife  and  division,  and  thus  doing 
more  harm  than  there  was  a  prospect  of  his  doing 
good.  Being  desirous,  however,  to  treat  the 
wishes  of  his  attached  friends  with  all  possible  re 
spect,  he  consented  that  an  ecclesiastical  council 
should  be  convened  to  judge  of  the  propriety  of 
forming  a  new  church,  and  of  his  consenting  to 
take  charge  of  it. 

A  council  was  accordingly  assembled  for  this 
purpose,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1751.  The  oppo 
nents  of  Mr.  Edwards,  imagining  that  the  conven 
ing  of  this  council  was  part  of  a  plan  for  reversing 
the  proceedings  of  the  former  council,  and  restor 
ing  him  to  his  old  pastoral  charge,  were  exceed 
ingly  excited,  gave  way  to  great  violence  of  feel 
ing,  and  assailed  the  venerable  council  and  Mr. 
Edwards  in  a  manner  equally  unjust  and  offensive 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  123 

The  council,  after  a  deliberate  survey  of  .he  whole 
ground,  advised,  agreeably  to  the  judgment  previ 
ously  expressed  by  Mr.  Edwards,  that  the  plan 
of  forming  a  new  church,  and  constituting  him  its 
pastor,  be  abandoned,  and  that,  for  the  sake  of 
promoting  the  peace  of  the  congregation,  he  should 
leave  Northampton. 

These  devoted  friends,  however,  though  not 
permitted  to  retain  this  faithful  and  venerable  man 
as  their  pastor,  could  not  be  prevented  from  testi 
fying  their  gratitude  and  respect  by  much  kindness. 
And,  although  they  were  by  no  means  the  most 
wealthy  or  conspicuous  members  of  the  civil  com 
munity,  they  considered  it  as  their  privilege,  as 
well  as  duty,  to  minister  to  his  temporal  wants 
His  friends  in  Scotland  also,  finding  that  he  could 
not  be  induced  to  leave  America,  and  take  up  his 
abode  among  them,  with  a  Christian  generosity 
and  public  spirit,  as  honorable  to  themselves  as  to 
the  object  of  their  attention,  fearing  that,  amidst 
the  persecution  which  he  endured,  he  might,  with 
his  large  and  expensive  family,  be  reduced  to 
straits,  contributed  and  sent  to  him  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  for  his  relief. 

In  justice  to  the  character  of  this  great  and 
good  man,  it  ought  to  be  stated,  that,  when  he  was 
conducting  his  inquiries  concerning  the  qualifica 
tions  for  communion,  and  perceived  the  conclusion 
to  which  they  wers  leading  him,  he  foresaw  the 


124  \MERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

difficulties  in  which,  if  he  should  follow  his  con 
scientious  convictions,  he  might  probably  be  in- 
voKed.  And  when  his  mind  was  finally  made  up 
on  the  system  which  he  thenceforward  adopted, 
before  it  was  publicly  made  known,  he  intimated 
to  some  of  his  friends,  that,  if  he  should  disclose 
and  maintain  that  system,  his  impression  was,  that 
it  must  issue  in  his  dismission  and  disgrace ;  for 
that  his  new  opinions  would  never  be  tolerated  or 
forgiven  by  those  whose  habits,  feelings,  and  sta 
tion  in  the  church  bound  them  to  an  opposite 
belief. 

He  foresaw,  that  most  of  the  neighboring  cler 
gy,  and  all  the  surrounding  churches,  would  be 
against  him  ;  and  that  the  people  of  his  charge 
would  probably  cast  him  off,   and  leave   him   to 
want  and  beggary.     Yet  he  went  forward,  without 
turning  to  the  right  hand  or  the  left.     How  large 
a  portion  there  was  here  of  that  spirit,  which  ani 
mated  the  primitive  martyrs,  and  which   impelled 
them  fearlessly  to  pursue   what  they  were  con 
vinced    was    the   path  of  duty,    at  the  risk,  and 
sometimes  at  the  expense  of  the  certain  forfeiture 
of  all  their  temporal  comforts,  and  even  of  life  it 
self,  it  is  unnecessary  to  remark.     Jonathan  Ed 
wards  had,  evidently,  drunk  deep  into  that  spirit 
and  was  enabled,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  exem 
Dlify  it  with  no  small  share  of  a  martyr's  fortitude. 

In  the  month  of  Decembe",  1750,  six  months 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  125 

after  his  dismission  from  his  pastoral  charge,  Mr 
Edwards  received  proposals  from  the  church  in 
Stockbridge,  a  town  in  Massachusetts,  about  forty 
miles  west  of  Northampton,  to  become  their  pas 
tor,  and,  about  the  same  time,  an  offer  from  the 
"  Commissioners  at  Boston,"  acting  in  the  name 
of  "  The  Society  in  London,  for  propagating  the 
Gospel  in  New  England,  and  the  Parts  adjacent," 
to  be  employed  by  them  as  a  missionary  to  the 
Housatounucks,  a  tribe  of  Indians,  at  that  time 
located  in  Stockbridge  and  its  immediate  vicinity 
For  the  purpose  of  judging  whether  it  was  his 
duty  to  accept  these  proposals,  he  went  to  Stock- 
bridge  early  in  the  month  of  January,  1751,  and 
remained  there  several  months,  ministering  to  the 
church  in  that  place,  which  had  invited  him  to  be 
its  pastor,  and  also  preaching,  by  means  of  an  in 
terpreter,  to  the  Indians.  Soon  after  the  close 
of  this  protracted  visit,  he  declared  his  acceptance 
both  of  the  pastoral  charge  to  which  he  had  been 
called,  and  of  the  Indian  mission,  and  determined 
to  remove  to  the  scene  of  his  future  labors. 


126  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

His  Removal  to  Stockbridge.  —  Difficulties  ana 
Trials  there.  —  Indefatigable  Labors.  —  New 
and  important  Publications.  —  His  Election 
to  the  Presidency  of  New  Jersey  College. 

MR.  EDWARDS  having  declared,  in  the  spring 
of  1751,  his  acceptance  of  the  double  charge  to 
which  he  had  been  called  at  Stockbridge,  returned 
to  that  place,  and  entered  on  its  duties  in  the 
month  of  June,  of  that  year.  Early  in  the  fol 
lowing  August,  he  removed  his  family  from  North 
ampton  to  Stockbridge,  and  in  a  few  days  after 
ward  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church  in  the 
latter  place. 

Among  the  many  testimonies  of  the  high  re 
spect  and  affectionate  sympathy  which  his  treat 
ment  at  Northampton  had  excited,  one  occurred 
about  this  time.  He  had  scarcely  been  installed 
at  Stockbridge,  before  a  special  messenger  arrived 
with  an  invitation  from  a  body  of  Presbyterians 
in  Virginia,  inviting  him  to  become  their  pastor, 
and  pledging  to  him  a  generous  support.  This 
invitation  he  would  probably  have  accepted, 
had  it  arrived  a  few  months,  or  even  weeks, 
earlier.  But,  having  been  just  installed,  he  did 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  127 

not  feel  himself  at  liberty  so  soon  to  lea  re  his 
new  charge. 

The  congregation  in  Stockbridge  was,  at  the 
time  of  his  settlement  in  it,  an  infant  and  feeble 
one,  in  what  was  then  a  frontier  settlement.  It 
was  made  up  partly  of  Indians,  and  partly  of 
white  settlers,  who  had  been  drawn  thither  by 
plans  for  the  improvement  of  the  Indians.  The 
Reverend  John  Sergeant,  a  pious  and  faithful  mis 
sionary,  had  occupied  the  same  station  for  a  num 
ber  of  years  prior  to  Mr.  Edwards's  call  thither, 
and  had  deceased  in  1749. 

Mr.  Edwards  found  the  white  population  of 
Stockbridge  in  a  very  divided  and  discordant  state, 
and  the  Indian  mission  in  a  situation  by  no  means 
desirable.  An  elder  member  of  the  same  selfish 
and  hostile  family,  which  had  sought  to  do  him 
hurt  during  his  troubles  at  Northampton,  unhap 
pily  resided  in  Stockbridge,  and,  by  his  perverse 
and  grasping  policy,  had  rendered  himself  exceed 
ingly  odious  both  to  the  Indians  and  the  white 
settlers  around  him.  This  man  seems  to  have 
done  all  that  he  could  to  prevent  Mr.  Edwards 
from  accepting  the  call  to  that  place,  and,  after 
he  was  settled  there,  to  weaken  his  hands,  to  di 
minish  his  influence,  and,  if  it  had  been  possible, 
to  effect  his  removal  from  the  mission.  Indeed, 
that  malignant  family  might  be  considered  as  the 
evil  genius  of  this  great  and  good  man ;  as  some 


128  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY". 

member  of  it  seemed  to  be  ever  busy  in  con 
triving  mischief  against  him,  and  throwing  every 
possible  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  comfort  and 
usefulness. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Mr.  Edwards,  that  this  man's 
unjust  and  cruel  conduct  toward  the  Indians  had 
destroyed  his  influence  with  them,  and  that  his 
avaricious  and  arrogant  disposition  had  alienated 
from  him  almost  all  the  white  inhabitants  of  the 
town.  Still  this  adversary  was  constantly  busy  in 
schemes  of  encroachment  and  mischief,  and  was, 
for  several  years,  one  of  the  principal  troublers 
of  the  mission  and  of  the  town,  and  especially 
of  Mr.  Edwards,  whose  sterling  integrity  and  im 
movable  firmness  he  found  the  greatest  obstacle 
to  the  accomplishment  of  his  plans.  And  although 
his  power  of  doing  personal  mischief  in  his  own 
immediate  vicinity  was  very  small,  yet  still  his 
family  influence  in  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
at  Boston,  and  through  them,  and  his  other  con 
nexions  with  the  parent  Society  in  London,  ena 
bled  him,  for  a  time,  to  thwart  the  measures  of 
the  real  friends  of  the  Indians,  and  greatly  to  im 
pede  the  plans  laid  for  their  temporal  and  spiritual 
improvement.  The  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  decision 
of  Mr.  Edwards,  however,  were  constantly  made, 
in  the  good  providence  of  God,  to  foil  and  control 
this  "troubler  of  Israel,"  until,  at  length,  mor 
tified  and  discouraged  by  his  repeated  defeats,  he 
removed  from  the  town. 


JONATHAN    EDWARDS.  129 

The  letters  which  Mr.  Edwards  wrote  during 
these  conflicts  to  Sir  William  Pepperell,  whose 
attention  had  been  strongly  drawn  to  the  Indians 
at  Stockbridge,  to  the  Commissioners  at  Boston, 
and  to  his  correspondents  in  Scotland,  give  a 
most  impressive  view,  on  the  one  band,  of  the 
untiring  spirit  of  malignity  and  mischief  with 
which  he  and  the  Indian  mission  were  assailed ; 
and,  on  the  other,  of  the  calm,  Christian  firmness 
and  fidelity,  with  which  he  met  his  adversaries, 
and  maintained  the  cause  of  humanity  and  righ 
teousness.  It  was,  truly,  in  this  case,  the  friend  of 
religion  and  of  human  happiness  meeting  the  ene 
mies  of  both,  who  were  willing  to  sacrifice  every 
thing  to  their  cupidity,  their  ambition,  and  their 
pride,  and  putting  them  to  flight  by  those  weapons 
alone,  which  are  "  mighty  through  God  to  the 
pulling  down  of  strong  holds." 

In  the  dispensations  of  Providence  toward  this 
excellent  man,  while  we  see  not  a  little  that  is 
mysterious  and  perplexing,  we  also  see  much, 
the  wisdom  and  benignity  of  which  we  are  able 
to  discern.  Had  he  remained  in  Northampton, 
especially  had  he  continued  in  a  pastoral  relation 
to  so  large  a  church,  while  in  a  state  so  agitated 
and  divided  as  during  the  last  five  or  six  years 
of  his  connexion  with  it,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  several  of  his  most  important  publica 
tions  would  ever  have  been  given  to  the  world. 

i.— 9 


130  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

It  was  probably  one  of  the  designs  of  the  Head 
of  the  church,  in  removing  him  from  such  a  laoo- 
rious  and  distracting  scene,  to  afford  him  more 
of  that  calm  retirement  and  leisure,  which  were 
?o  desirable  for  the  completion  of  works  requiring 
close  and  protracted  thought,  and  much  profound 
inquiry. 

His  unjust  and  cruel  expulsion,  therefore,  from 
Northampton,  however  painful  to  his  own  feelings, 
and  however  disgraceful  to  the  members  of  that 
church,  and  to  the  neighboring  clergy,  who  were 
most  active  in  effecting  it,  was  evidently  overruled 
for  good.  It  not  only  drew  the  attention  of  a 
large  portion  of  the  American  churches  to  a  most 
important  discussion,  and  held  up  his  character  in 
a  conspicuous  and  highly  interesting  light  to  the 
religious  public ;  but  it  became  the  means  of  in 
troducing  him  to  a  scene  of  more  retirement,  more 
tranquil  study,  and  also  of  giving  his  friends  in 
Great  Britain  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  a 
deeper  interest  in  his  character  and  his  works. 
It  happened  in  this  case,  as  it  has  happened  a 
thousand  times  before,  that  every  stroke  inflicted 
upon  him  by  the  hand  of  error  or  of  malice,  did 
but  serve  to  call  into  fuller  view  his  intellectual 
and  moral  excellence,  and  thus  to  exalt  his  repu 
tation,  and  extend  his  permanent  usefulness. 

The  labors  of  Mr.  Edwards  in  Stockbridge  were 
multiplied  and   arduous.     He   preached  twice  in 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  131 

each  week  to  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
and  once,  by  an  interpreter,  to  the  Indians.  Be 
sides  these  duties,  his  numerous  daily  avocations 
of  a  more  private  nature,  as  pastor  and  as  mis 
sionary,  and  especially  in  fulfilling  the  trust  reposed 
in  him  with  regard  to  the  instruction  and  care  of 
the  Indian  children,  formed  an  amount  of  labor 
quite  enough  to  employ  the  whole  time  of  an 
ordinary  man.  In  addition  to  these  stated  em 
ployments,  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  his  resi 
dence  in  that  town  were  marked  with  many  vex 
atious  attempts,  on  the  part  of  certain  persons 
already  referred  to,  to  turn  the  funds  devoted  to 
the  Indians  to  their  own  aggrandizement,  to  injure 
Mr.  Edwards  himself,  and,  if  possible,  to  remove 
him  from  his  office  ;  which  laid  him  under  the 
necessity  of  employing  much  time,  in  a  variety 
of  ways,  to  counteract  these  insidious  arts,  and 
to  defend  from  oppression  and  cruelty  his  interest 
ing  charge. 

Besides  all  this,  he  was  seized  in  the  month  ol 
June,  1754,  with  a  severe  fever,  from  which  he 
did  not  recover  until  the  following  January,  and 
which  greatly  enfeebled  his  constitution  ;  to  which 
may  be  added,  that  the  war  with  the  French  and 
Indians  which  immediately  succeeded,  and  was 
particularly  distressing  to  the  frontier  settlements, 
and  to  Stockbridge  among  the  rest,  painfully 
nterrupted  his  favorite  pursuits.  The  ordinary 


132  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

arrangements  of  society  in  the  town  were  broken 
up.  Soldiers  were  quartered  at  his  house,  eating 
up  his  substance,  and  deranging  the  order  of  his 
family.  Such  was  the  series  of  vexations  and 
trials  to  which  this  excellent  man  was  subjected, 
even  after  his  escape  from  the  popular  rage  and 
injustice  at  Northampton. 

Yet,  even  amidst  these  scenes,  he  found  time 
for  some  of  his  most  successful  intellectual  efforts. 
And  during  the  last  three  or  four  years  of  his  resi 
dence  in  Stockbridge,  he  enjoyed,  perhaps,  as  fa 
vorable  an  opportunity  for  undisturbed  study  as  in 
any  period  of  his  life. 

The  first  product  of  his  pen  in  this  place  was  a 
reply  to  a  publication  of  the  Reverend  Solomon 
Williams,  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  on  the  sub 
ject  of  Qualifications  for  Communion,  which  had 
created  so  much  difficulty  in  Northampton.  Mr. 
Williams  had  written,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Edwards's 
'(  Humble  Inquiry  concerning  the  Qualifications 
for  Full  Communion  in  the  visible  Church,"  pub 
lished  in  1749,  a  pamphlet,  which  he  entitled, 
"  The  true  State  of  the  Question  concerning  Qual 
ifications  for  lawful  Communion  in  the  Christian 
Sacraments."  This  pamphlet  had  been  printed  at 
the  expense  of  the  church  at  Northampton,  and 
carefully  distributed  among  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town,  for  the  purpose  of  invalidating  the  work 
of  their  old  pastor.  It  seems  never  to  have  been 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  133 

regarded  by  the  public  as  very  powerful ;  yet  Mr 
Edwards  deemed  a  reply  to  it  advisable.  Accord 
ingly,  in  November,  1752,  he  published  an  answer, 
under  the  title  of  "  Misrepresentations  Corrected, 
and  Truth  Vindicated,  in  Reply  to  the  Reverend 
Solomon  Williams,"  &ic.  To  this  he  added  a  Let 
ter  to  his  late  flock  at  Northampton.  This  pub 
lication  has  generally  been  considered,  like  the 
original  work,  to  which  it  is  a  sequel,  as  distin 
guished  for  fairness  and  force  of  reasoning,  zeal  for 
the  truth,  and  tender  concern  for  the  everlasting 
welfare  of  those  who  had  evil  requited  him  for  all 
his  faithful  and  affectionate  labors. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1752,  Mr.  Ed 
wards  visited  Newark,  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
where  one  of  his  daughters  resided,  who  had  been 
married,  a  few  weeks  before,  to  the  Reverend 
Aaron  Burr,  President  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  which  was  then  established  temporarily  at 
Newark,  and  several  years  afterwards  removed  to 
Princeton.  During  this  visit,  which  comprehend 
ed  both  the  public  Commencement  in  the  col 
lege,  and  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Synod  of 
New  York,  he  preached  before  the  Synod  a  ser 
mon  of  peculiar  solemnity  and  excellence,  from 
James  ii.  19,  entitled,  "  True  Grace  distinguished 
from  the  Experience  of  Devils,"  which  was  soon 
afterwards  printed  at  the  request  of  that  body. 
This  sermon  is  found  among  his  collected  works, 


134  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  will  ever  be  regarded  as  a  faithful,  weighty, 
and  impressive  discourse. 

Several  years  before  Mr.  Edwards  left  North 
ampton,  he  had  planned,  as  we  have  seen  in  a 
preceding  chapter,  a  Treatise  on  the  Freedom  of 
the  Will,  and  Moral  Agency,  in  opposition  to  the 
Arminian  System.  He  had,  no  doubt,  thought 
much  on  this  subject,  and  probably  committed 
some  of  his  thoughts  to  writing  before  his  dismis 
sion.  Indeed,  this  great  subject  seems  to  have 
engaged  his  attention  even  while  he  was  an  under 
graduate  at  college,  and  to  have  been  a  favorite 
object  of  attention  ever  since.  And  the  probabil 
ity  is,  that  no  month  had  passed,  for  a  number  of 
years,  in  which  he  had  not  written  something  in 
reference  to  it.  But  he  was  painfully  diverted 
from  the  execution  of  his  plan  by  the  troubles  at 
Northampton.  These  agitating  troubles,  together 
with  the  embarrassments  which  attended  his  mis 
sion  for  the  first  year  or  two  at  Stockbridge,  had 
so  engrossed  his  mind,  that  he  made  but  little 
progress  in  the  execution  of  his  plan. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1752, 
however,  he  resumed  his  attention  to  the  subject, 
and  about  the  middle  of  April,  1753,  he  announ 
ced  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Erskine  of  Scotland,  that 
he  had  almost  finished  the  first  draft  of  his  far- 
famed  treatise  on  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will." 
The  proposals  for  printing  it  were  soon  afterwards 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  135 

issued  in  Boston ;  but,  in  consequence  of  waiting 
for  the  result  of  subscription  papers  sent  to  Scot 
land,  the  work  was  not  actually  published  until 
the  spring  of  1754.  Such  a  work,  supposing  it 
to  be  written  with  any  degree  of  retired  leisure 
that  can  be  imagined,  and  after  many  years  of 
close  and  persevering  study,  would  do  honor  to 
the  most  powerful  mind  that  ever  engaged  in  men 
tal  labor.  But  when  it  is  considered  that  the  plan 
of  it  was  formed  in  scenes  of  distraction  and  sor 
row  ;  that  it  was  resumed  and  prosecuted  in  the 
midst  of  hindrances  and  interruptions,  which  would 
have  discouraged  a  common  man  ;  and  that  the 
actual  composition  of  the  work  seems  to  have 
been  completed  in  less  than  half  a  year,  it  must 
oe  regarded  as  a  most  extraordinary  example  of 
intellectual  power. 

In  the  spring  of  1755,  after  his  recovery  from 
the  sickness  which,  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
preceding  year,  had  greatly  distressed  and  en 
feebled  him,  his  active  mind,  instead  of  seeking 
repose,  sought  for  new  fields  of  indefatigable  labor. 
To  elucidate  truth  and  duty  for  the  benefit  of  his 
fellow-men  was  his  ruling  passion.  He  now  com 
menced  the  composition  of  two  treatises,  which  he 
considered  as  relating  to  fundamental  points  in  the 
system  of  theology.  The  one  was  "  A  Disserta 
tion  on  God's  Last  End  in  the  Creation  of  the 
World ; "  and  the  other  "  A  Dissertation  on  the 


136  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Nature  of  true  Virtue."  Neither  of  these  Disser 
tations  was  published  during  the  author's  life ;  nor 
does  either  of  them  seem  to  have  been  entirely 
prepared  for  the  press  by  himself.  They  were 
both  published  for  the  first  time  together,  in  Bos 
ton,  in  the  year  1765,  and,  like  all  his  writings, 
bear  the  stamp  of  his  great  mind. 

The  first  of  these  Dissertations  contains  no  new 
doctrine.  That  God's  last  end  in  the  creation  of 
the  world  was  his  own  glory,  is  not  only  taught 
with  great  distinctness  in  the  word  of  God  ;  but 
had  been  recognised,  for  centuries  before  this  time, 
in  all  evangelical  systems  of  theology.  But  it  is 
probable  that  this  doctrine  had  never  been  so 
clearly  illustrated,  exhibited  with  so  much  philo 
sophical  accuracy,  or  fortified  with  such  perfect 
demonstration,  by  any  writer  before  Mr.  Edwards. 
He  touched  nothing  that  he  did  not  set  in  a  new 
light,  and  establish  with  additional  evidence. 
Some  inferences  since  deduced  from  the  doctrine 
of  this  Dissertation,  he  would,  probably,  never 
have  sanctioned.  But  of  this  more  hereafter. 

If,  among  the  works  of  this  great  man,  there 
be  any  at  which  the  sound  theologian  will  hesitate, 
it  is,  perhaps,  to  be  found  in  the  second  of  these 
two  Dissertations,  namely,  that  on  the  "  Nature  of 
true  Virtue."  It  is  impossible,  indeed,  to  peruse 
that  Dissertation  without  perceiving  the  workman 
ship  of  the  same  acute  and  masterly  mind,  which 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  137 

appears  in  all  his  other  writings.  But  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  he  has,  with  the  same  perfect 
success  as  in  most  other  cases,  established  his 
main  position,  which  is,  that  true  virtue  essentially 
consists  in  a  love  to  being  in  general;  in  other 
words,  that  our  love  to  every  object  ought  to  be 
in  proportion  to  the  amount  or  quantity  of  its  be 
ing.  The  following  objections  to  this  doctrine,  by 
the  late  Reverend  Robert  Hall,  a  great  admirer 
of  Edwards,  and,  undoubtedly,  one  of  the  most 
able  and  eloquent  men  that  Great  Britain  has  pro 
duced  within  the  last  half  century,  seem  to  have 
no  small  weight. 

1 .  "  The  good  of  the  whole  (of  being  in  gen 
eral)  is  a  motive  so  loose  and  indeterminate,  and 
embraces  such  an  infinity  of  relations,  that,  before 
we  could  be  certain  what  action  is  prescribed,  the 
season  of  action  would  be  past. 

2.  "  Virtue,  on  these  principles,  is  an  utter  im 
possibility  ;  for  the  system  of  being,  comprehend 
ing  the  great  Supreme,  is  infinite  ;  and,  therefore, 
to  maintain  the   proper  proportion,  the  force  of 
particular  attachment  must  be  infinitely  less  than 
the  passion  for  the  general  good ;  but  the  limits 
of  the  human  mind  are  not  capable  of  any  emo 
tion  so  infinitely  different  in  degree. 

3.  "  Since  our  views  of  the  extent  of  the  um 
verse  are  capable  of  perpetual  enlargement,  ad 
mitting  that  the  sum  of  existence  is  ever  the  same 


138  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

we  must  turn  back  at  each  step  to  diminish  the 
strergth  of  particular  affections,  or  they  will  be 
come  disproportionate;  so  that  the  balance  must 
be  continually  fluctuating,  by  the  weights  being 
taken  out  of  one  scale  and  put  into  the  other. 

4.  "  If  virtue  consist  exclusively  of  love  to 
being  in  general,  or  attachment  to  the  general 
good,  the  particular  affections  are,  to  every  pur 
pose  of  virtue,  useless,  and  even  pernicious  ;  for 
their  immediate,  nay,  their  necessary  tendency  is 
to  attract  to  their  objects  a  proportion  of  attention, 
which  far  exceeds  their  comparative  value  in  the 
general  scale.  To  allege  that  the  general  good  is 
promoted  by  them,  will  be  of  no  advantage  to  the 
defence  of  this  system,  but  the  contrary,  by  con 
fessing  that  a  greater  sum  of  happiness  is  attained 
by  a  deviation  from,  than  by  an  adherence  to  its 
principles,  unless  its  advocates  mean  by  the  love 
of  being  in  general  the  same  thing  as  the  private 
affections,  which  is  to  confound  all  the  distinctions 
of  language,  as  well  as  the  operations  of  the  mind. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  we  have  no  dispute  re 
specting  what  is  the  ultimate  end  of  virtue,  which 
is  allowed  on  both  sides  to  be  the  greatest  sum  of 
happiness  in  the  universe.  The  question  is  merely? 
What  is  virtue  itself;  or,  in  other  words,  what  are 
the  means  appointed  for  the  attainment  of  that 
end  ?  " 

"  There  is  little  doubt,"  Mr.  Hall  adds,  "  from 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  139 

some  parts  of  Mr.  Godwin's  work  entitled,  ( Po 
litical  Justice,'  as  well  as  from  his  early  habits  of 
reading,  that  he  was  indebted  to  Mr.  Edwards  for 
his  principal  arguments  against  the  private  affec 
tions  ;  though,  with  a  daring  consistence,  he  has 
pursued  his  principles  to  an  extreme,  from  which 
that  most  excellent  man  would  have  revolted  with 
horror.  The  fundamental  error  of  the  whole  sys 
tem  arose,  as  I  conceive,  from  a  mistaken  pursuit 
of  simplicity ;  from  a  wish  to  construct  a  moral 
system,  without  leaving  sufficient  scope  for  the  in 
finite  variety  of  moral  phenomena  and  mental 
combination  ;  in  consequence  of  which  its  advo 
cates  were  induced  to  place  virtue  exclusively  in 
some  one  disposition  of  mind  ;  and,  since  the  pas 
sion  for  the  general  good  is  undeniably  the  noblest 
and  most  extensive  of  all  others,  when  it  was 
once  resolved  to  place  virtue  in  any  one  thing, 
there  remained  little  room  to  hesitate  which  should 
be  preferred.  It  might  have  been  wrorth  while  to 
reflect,  that  in  the  natural  world  there  are  two 
kinds  of  attractions  ;  one  which  holds  the  several 
parts  of  individual  bodies  in  contact ;  another, 
which  maintains  the  union  of  bodies  themselves 
with  the  general  system  ;  and  that,  though  the 
union  in  the  former  case  is  much  more  intimate 
than  in  the  latter,  each  is  equally  essential  to 
the  order  of  the  world.  Similar  to  this  is  the 
relation  which  the  public  and  private  affections 


140  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Dear  to  each  other,  and  their  use  in  the  moral 
system."  * 

The  next  important  work  which  engaged  the 
attention  of  Mr.  Edwards,  was  his  treatise  on 
"  Original  Sin."  When  this  work  was  begun,  and 
how  long  he  was  employed  in  its  composition, 
cannot  now  be  certainly  known.  The  date  of  the 
Author's  Preface  is  May  26th,  1757.  This  is 
sufficient  evidence  that  he  had  then  prepared  it 
for  the  press.  A  few  of  the  first  sheets  were 
printed  in  the  course  of  that  year,  and  passed  un 
der  the  revision  of  the  venerable  author ;  but  the 
whole  work  did  not  come  from  the  press  until  the 
spring  of  the  year  1758,  a  few  weeks  after  his 
decease.  This  work  has  been  considered  by  some 
as  the  greatest  production  of  his  pen.  Though  it 
is  probable  that  such  an  estimate  will  hardly  be 
sustained  by  the  best  judges,  yet,  in  clearness, 
comprehensiveness,  and  force,  it  stands  next  to 
his  work  on  the  «  Freedom  of  the  Will." 

The  success  of  Mr.  Edwards  at  Stockbridge, 
especially  among  the  Indians,  the  most  prominent 
and  interesting  part  of  his  charge,  was  not  great. 
This  unfavorable  result,  considering  a  variety  of 
circumstances  attending  his  labors,  was  by  no 
means  wonderful.  The  Indians,  during  almost 
the  whole  time  of  his  connexion  with  them,  were 
placed  in  a  situation  very  unfriendly  to  their  moral 

*  Sermon  on  Modern  Infidelity. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  141 

and  spiritual  improvement.  The  white  people  in 
their  neighborhood  were  a  constant  source  of  em 
barrassment  and  corruption.  Ardent  spirits  were 
furnished  to  them  to  a  great  extent  by  the  un 
principled  traders.  The  funds  contributed  for 
their  benefit,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  were 
either  embezzled  or  strangely  perverted  to  the 
purposes  of  secular  gain,  by  men  who  were  un 
happily  vested  with  agencies  for  the  management 
of  their  affairs  ;  to  which  may  be  added,  that  the 
war  which  raged  during  several  of  the  years  which 
Mr.  Edwards  spent  at  Stockbridge,  in  which  the 
French  had  contrived  to  engage  many  of  the 
Indian  tribes  against  Great  Britain  and  the  colo 
nies,  served  to  keep  in  an  uneasy  and  agitated 
state  the  body  of  Indians  belonging  to  this  settle 
ment,  to  diminish  their  confidence  in  those  who 
professed  to  be  their  benefactors,  and  to  turn  away 
their  attention  from  the  best  objects. 

In  fact,  during  the  whole  of  Mr.  Edwards's 
residence  at  this  missionary  station,  there  were 
constantly  causes  in  unhappy  operation,  which 
tended  to  interrupt  the  tranquillity  of  the  settle 
ment,  and  to  introduce  the  elements  of  suspicion, 
jealousy,  and  resentment  among  the  Indians.  And 
although  Mr.  Edwards  himself  was  not  only  faith 
ful  both  to  their  temporal  and  spiritual  interests, 
but  indefatigably  employed  in  promoting  both,  to 
the  extent  of  his  power ;  and  although  he  uni- 


142  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

formly  enjoyed  their  confidence  and  affection, 
they  were  continually  so  annoyed  and  injured  by 
others,  as  to  keep  their  minds  in  a  state  of 
constant  excitement,  and  to  fill  them  with  preju 
dices  against  many  who  bore  the  Christian  name. 
Whatever  might  have  been  the  influence  of  these 
causes  on  their  minds,  the  fact  is,  that  few  of 
them  seem  to  have  been  brought  under  the  power 
of  the  Gospel  while  Mr.  Edwards  was  with  them. 
Individuals,  indeed,  of  their  number,  now  and 
then  became  hopefully  pious  ;  but  no  general  or 
extended  revival  of  religion  among  them  evei 
occurred  under  his  ministry. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  history  of  the 
world  has  ever  presented  an  example  of  a  small 
community,  existing  in  the  bosom  of  a  larger,  and 
accounted  inferior  to  the  latter  in  intelligence  and 
general  standing,  which,  in  these  circumstances, 
continued  to  flourish,  and  to  become,  progres 
sively,  more  numerous,  intelligent,  virtuous,  and 
happy.  Such  a  people,  in  spite  of  every  effort 
to  prevent  it,  are  commonly  despised  and  treated 
as  inferiors.  They  most  frequently  come  into 
contact  with  the  most  unprincipled  and  base  of 
the  superior  community.  They  seldom  fail  to  be 
oppressed  and  corrupted,  and,  therefore,  weakened. 
They,  of  course,  want  that  sense  of  character  and 
self-respect,  that  generous  emulation  to  rise  to 
true  excellence,  which  are  so  unspeakably  useful, 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  143 

and  indeed  indispensable  in  the  social  system. 
Hence  they  are  apt,  in  these  circumstances,  to 
degenerate  in  character,  to  diminish  in  numbers, 
and  finally  to  waste  away,  and  either  perish  alto 
gether,  or  feel  compelled  to  remove. 

This  has  ever  been  the  case  with  a  free  black 
population  surrounded  by  white  people.  And  if 
any  facts,  supposed  to  wear  a  different  aspect  with 
respect  to  the  Indians,  have  been  presented  under 
the  labors  of  an  Eliot,  a  Brainerd,  and  some  more 
recent  examples,  it  is  believed  they  were  only 
temporary  appearances.  Good  was  done ;  indi 
viduals  were  converted  to  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  the  truth  ;  a  few  cases  of  pure  and  elevated 
character  appeared  ;  but  the  stability,  the  purity, 
and  the  growth  of  the  inferior  community  could 
not  be  maintained.  It  dwindled,  or  took  refuge 
in  a  more  remote  and  insulated  situation.  In  these 
remarks  nothing  more  is  intended  than  to  express 
an  opinion  on  the  intellectual  and  moral  aspect  of 
the  subject.  Whatever  may  be  the  plan  of  treat 
ment  pursued  by  the  government  of  the  superioi 
community,  whether  it  be  wise  or  foolish,  just  or 
oppressive,  the  result  may  be  hastened  or  retarded 
by  circumstances  peculiarly  favorable  or  otherwise ; 
but  the  general  result,  without  a  miracle,  will  be 
ever  the  same. 

If  this  opinion  be  correct,  we  need  not  wonder 
that  even  under  the  ministry  of  Edwards,  with  all 


144  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

his  talents,  wisdom,  preeminent  fidelity,  and  inde 
fatigable  diligence  in  the  service  of  the  Indians, 
his  success  was  not  greater  ;  that  in  spite  of  every 
thing  that  human  power  could  accomplish,  such 
counteracting  causes  were  continually  in  operation, 
as  thwarted  his  efforts,  and,  except  in  a  few  cases, 
disappointed  his  hopes. 

While  Mr.  Edwards  was  going  on  in  his  retired, 
studious  course,  fulfilling  his  official  duties,  and 
preparing  works  for  the  benefit  of  the  church  of 
God,  and  to  bless  millions  in  after-ages,  an  event 
occurred  which  was  destined  to  give  a  new  direc 
tion  and  most  interesting  aspect  to  his  few  re 
maining  days.  That  event  was  the  death  of  the 
Reverend  Aaron  Burr,  president  of  the  College 
of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton.  President  Burr 
had  married  Esther,  the  third  daughter  of  Mr. 
Edwards,  in  1752.  He  had  presided  over  the 
college  nearly  ten  years  with  growing  acceptance 
and  honor,  and  had,  a  few  months  before,  removed 
with  the  institution  from  Newark  to  Princeton,  to 
take  possession  of  the  buildings  just  completed  for 
its  reception  ;  when,  in  the  meridian  of  life  and 
of  usefulness,  it  pleased  God  to  remove  him  by 
death  in  the  autumn  of  1757,  two  days  before 
the  annual  Commencement. 

The  trustees  of  the  College,  of  course,  came 
together  at  that  anniversary  ;  and,  deliberating  on 
the  severe  bereavement  with  which  they  had  been 


JONATHAN      EDWARDS.  145 

visited,  they  turned  their  attention  without  delay  to 
the  choice  of  a  successor.  Their  suffrages  were 
soon  directed  to  Mr.  Edwards,  who  had  visited 
the  college  five  years  before,  at  a  public  Com 
mencement  ;  whose  persecution  in  Northampton 
had  given  him  a  deep  and  general  interest  in  the 
hearts  of  the  religious  public  ;  whose  invaluable 
writings  were  circulated  in  every  part  of  the  coun 
try  ;  and  whose  connexion  with  their  late  Presi 
dent  formed  another  attraction  of  no  ordinary 
strength.  He  was  elected  to  the  Presidentship 
of  the  College  on  the  27th  of  September,  1757, 
and  measures  were  immediately  taken  to  inform 
him  of  his  election,  and  to  secure  his  acceptance 
of  the  office 


i.— 10 


146  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

His  Removal  to  Princeton.  —  Letter  to  tht 
Board  of  Trustees.  —  Inauguration.  —  Sick' 
ness  and  Death.  —  His  Epitaph.  —  His  Family. 

To  effect  the  removal  of  Mr.  Edwards  to 
Princeton,  it  was  not  only  necessary  to  obtain 
his  own  consent,  but  also  that  of  the  Commis 
sioners  in  Boston,  who  had  the  charge  of  the 
Indian  mission  in  Stockbridge,  and  in  whose  em 
ployment  he  had  been  for  six  years.  The  latter, 
by  suitabJe  representations,  was  soon  effected.  A 
gentleman  of  excellent  character  was  recommend 
ed  to  the  Board  as  a  successor,  and  their  consent 
obtained  to  release  Mr.  Edwards  from  his  charge. 

But  to  remove  the  difficulties,  which  existed  in 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Edwards  himself,  was  not  so 
easily  accomplished.  In  a  letter  which  he  wrote 
to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  College,  in  an 
swer  to  their  communication,  announcing  his  ap 
pointment,  and  soliciting  his  acceptance  of  it,  he 
expressed  himself  in  a  manner  which  'ndicated 
much  mental  conflict.  As  this  letter  has  been 
referred  to  already,  and  will  be  alluded  to  again 
in  the  following  pages  ;  and  as  it  is,  on  some  ac 
counts,  one  of  the  most  characteristic  productions 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS. 

that  ever  came  from  the  author's  pen,  it  is  judged 
best  to  give  the  greater  part  of  it  at  length.  It 
is  in  the  following  words. 


"  Stockbridge,  19  October,  1757. 
"  REVEREND  AND  HONORABLE  GENTLEMEN, 
•  "  I  was  not  a  little  surprised,  on  receiving  the  ' 
unexpected  notice  of  your  having  made  choice 
of  me,  to  succeed  the  late  President  Burr,  as  the 
head  of  Nassau  Hall.  I  am  much  in  doubt, 
whether  I  am  called  to  undertake  the  business, 
which  you  have  done  me  the  unmerited  honor  to 
choose  me  for.  If  some  regard  may  be  had  to 
my  outward  comfort,  I  might  mention  the  many 
inconveniences  and  great  detriment,  which  may 
be  sustained  by  my  removing  with  my  numerous 
family  so  far  from  all  the  estate  I  have  in  the 
world,  (without  any  prospect  of  disposing  of  it, 
under  present  circumstances,  but  with  great  loss,) 
now  when  we  have  scarcely  got  over  the  trouble 
and  damage,  sustained  by  our  removal  from  North 
ampton,  and  have  but  just  begun  to  have  our  af 
fairs  in  a  comfortable  situation  for  a  subsistence  in 
this  place ;  and  the  expense  I  must  immediately 
bw  at,  to  put  myself  into  circumstances,  tolerably 
comporting  with  the  needful  support  of  the  honors 
of  the  office  [  am  invited  to  ;  which  will  not  well 
consist  with  my  ability. 

"But  this  is  not  my  main  objection.    The  chief 


148  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

difficulties  in  my  mind,  in  the  way  of  accepting 
that  important  and  arduous  office,  are  these  two ; 

"  First,  my  own  defects,  unfitting  me  for  such  an 
undertaking,  many  of  which  are  generally  known  j 
beside  others  of  which  my  own  heart  is  conscious 
[  have  a  constitution  in  many  respects  peculiarly 
unhappy,  attended  with  flaccid  solids,  vapid,  sizy, 
and  scarce  fluids,  and  a  low  tide  of  spirits ;  often 
occasioning  a  kind  of  childish  weakness  and  con- 
temptibleness  of  speech,  presence,  and  demeanor, 
with  a  disagreeable  dulness  and  stiffness,  much 
unfitting  me  for  conversation,  but  more  especially 
for  the  government  of  a  college.  This  makes  me 
shrink  at  the  thoughts  of  taking  upon  me,  in  the 
decline  of  life,  such  a  new  and  great  business,  at 
tended  with  such  a  multiplicity  of  cares,  and  re 
quiring  such  a  degree  of  activity,  alertness,  and 
spirit  of  government ;  especially  as  succeeding  one 
so  remarkably  well  qualified  in  these  respects,  giv 
ing  occasion  to  every  one  to  remark  the  wide  dif 
ference.  I  am  also  deficient  in  some  parts  of  learn 
ing,  particularly  in  algebra,  and  the  higher  parts  of 
mathematics,  and  in  the  Greek  classics  ;  my  Greek 
learning  having  been  chiefly  in  the  New  Testa 
ment. 

"  The  other  thing  is  this ;  that  my  engaging  in 
this  business  will  not  well  consist  with  those  views, 
and  that  course  of  employ,  in  my  study,  which 
bave  long  engaged  and  swallowed  up  my  mind, 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  149 

and  been  the  chief  entertainment  and  delight  of 
my  life. 

"  And  here,  honored  Sirs,  (emboldened,  by  the 
testimony  I  have  now  received  of  your  unmerited 
esteem,  to  rely  on  your  candor,)  I  will  with  free 
dom  open  myself  to  you.  My  method  of  study, 
from  my  first  beginning  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
has  been  very  much  by  writing ;  applyibg  myself, 
in  this  way,  to  improve  every  important  hint;  pur 
suing  the  clue  to  my  utmost,  when  any  thing  in 
reading,  meditation,  or  conversation,  has  been  sug 
gested  to  my  mind,  that  seemed  to  promise  light 
in  any  weighty  point ;  thus  penning  what  appeared 
to  me  my  best  thoughts,  on  innumerable  subjects, 
for  my  own  benefit.  The  longer  I  prosecuted 
my  studies  in  this  method,  the  more  habitual  it 
became,  and  the  more  pleasant  and  profitable  I 
found  it.  The  farther  I  travelled  in  this  way, 
the  more  and  wider  the  field  opened,  which  has 
occasioned  my  laying  out  many  things  in  my  mind, 
to  do  in  this  manner,  if  God  should  spare  my  life 
which  my  heart  hath  been  much  upon  ;  particu 
larly  many  things  against  most  of  the  prevailing 
errors  of  the  present  day,  which  I  cannot  with 
any  patience  see  maintained  (to  the  utter  sub 
verting  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ)  with  so  high  a 
hand,  and  so  long  continued  a  triumph,  with  so 
little  control,  when  it  appears  so  evident  to  me 
that  there  is  truly  no  foundation  for  any  of  lltis 


150  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

glorying  and  insult.  I  have  already  published 
something  on  one  of  the  main  points  in  dispute 
between  the  Arrninians  and  Calvinists,  and  have 
it  in  view,  God  willing,  (as  I  have  already  signified 
to  the  public,)  in  like  manner  to  consider  all  the 
other  controverted  points,  and  have  done  much 
towards  a  preparation  for  it. 

"  But,  beside  these,  I  have  had  on  my  mind  and 
heart  (which  I  long  ago  began,  not  with  any  view 
to  publication,)  a  great  work  which  I  call  a  c  His 
tory  of  the  Work  of  Redemption,'  a  body  of  divin 
ity  in  an  entire  new  method,  being  thrown  into  the 
form  of  a  history  ;  considering  the  affair  of  Chris 
tian  theology,  as  the  whole  of  it,  in  each  part, 
stands  in  reference  to  the  great  work  of  redemp 
tion  by  Jesus  Christ,  which  I  suppose  to  be,  of 
all  others,  the  grand  design  of  God,  and  the  sum- 
mum  and  ultimum  of  all  the  divine  operations 
and  decrees  ;  particularly  considering  all  parts  of 
the  grand  scheme  in  their  historical  order,  the 
order  of  their  existence,  or  their  being  brought 
forth  to  view  in  the  course  of  divine  dispensations, 
or  the  wonderful  series  of  successive  acts  and 
events,  beginning  from  eternity,  and  descending 
from  thence  to  the  great  work  and  successive  dis 
pensations  of  the  infinitely  wise  God,  in  time ; 
considering  the  chief  events  coming  to  pass  in 
the  church  of  God,  and  revolutions  in  the  world 
of  mankind,  affecting  the  state  of  the  church  and 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  151 

the  affair  of  redemption,  which  we  have  an  ac 
count  of  in  history  or  prophecy,  till,  at  last,  we 
come  to  the  general  resurrection,  last  judgment} 
and  consummation  of  all  things  ;  when  it  shall  be 
said,  c  It  is  done ;  /  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
beginning  and  the  end ; '  concluding  my  work, 
with  the  consideration  of  that  perfect  state  of 
things  which  shall  be  finally  settled,  to  last  for 
eternity.  This  history  will  be  carried  on  with 
regard  to  all  three  worlds,  heaven,  earth,  and  hell; 
considering  the  connected,  successive  events  and 
alterations  in  each,  so  far  as  the  Scriptures  give 
any  light ;  introducing  all  parts  of  divinity  in  that 
order  which  is  most  Scriptural  and  most  natural, 
a  method  which  appears  to  me  the  most  beautiful 
and  entertaining,  wherein  every  divine  doctrine 
will  appear  to  the  greatest  advantage,  in  the 
brightest  light,  in  the  most  striking  manner,  show 
ing  the  admirable  contexture  and  harmony  of  the 
whole. 

"  I  have  also,  for  my  own  profit  and  entertain 
ment,  done  much  towards  another  great  work, 
which  I  call  the  (  Harmony  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,'  in  three  parts.  The  first,  considering 
the  prophecies  of  the  Messiah,  his  redemption 
and  kingdom  ;  the  evidences  of  their  references 
to  the  Messiah,  &c. ;  comparing  them  all  one 
with  another ;  demonstrating  their  agreement,  true 
scope,  and  sense;  also  considering  all  the  various 


152  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

particulars  wherein  those  prophecies  have  then 
exact  fulfilment,  showing  the  universal,  precise, 
and  admirable  correspondence  between  predictions 
and  events.  The  second  part,  considering  the 
types  of  the  Old  Testament,  showing  the  evidence 
of  their  being  intended  as  representations  of  the 
great  things  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  the 
agreement  of  the  type  with  the  antitype.  The 
third  and  great  part,  considering  the  harmony  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  as  to  doctrine  and 
precept. 

"  In  the  course  of  this  work,  I  find  there  will 
be  occasion  for  an  explanation  of  a  very  great 
part  of  the  holy  Scriptures ;  which  may,  in  such 
a  view,  be  explained  in  a  method,  which  to  me 
seems  the  most  entertaining  and  profitable,  best 
tending  to  lead  the  mind  to  a  view  of  the  true 
spirit,  design,  life,  and  soul  of  the  Scriptures,  as 
well  as  their  proper  use  and  improvement. 

"  I  have  also  many  other  things  in  hand,  in 
some  of  which  I  have  made  great  progress,  which 
I  will  not  trouble  you  with  an  account  of.  Some 
of  these  things,  if  divine  Providence  favor,  I 
should  be  willing  to  attempt  a  publication  of.  So 
far  as  I  myself  am  able  to  judge  of  what  talents  I 
have,  for  benefiting  my  fellow-creatures  by  word, 
I  think  I  can  write  better  than  I  can  speak. 

"  My  heart  is  so  much  in  these  studies,  that  I 
cannot  find  it  in  my  heart  to  be  willing  to  put 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  153 

myself  into  an  incapability  to  pursue  them  any  more 
in  the  future  part  of  my  life,  to  such  a  degree  as  1 
must,  if  I  undertake  to  go  through  the  sam*3  courso 
of  employ,  in  the  office  of  president,  that  Mr. 
Burr  did,  instructing  in  all  the  languages,  and  tak 
ing  the  whole  care  of  the  instruction  of  one  of  the 
classes,  in  all  parts  of  learning,  besides  his  other 
labors.  If  I  should  see  light  to  determine  me  to 
accept  the  place  offered  me,  I  should  be  willing 
to  take  upon  me  the  work  of  a  president,  so  far 
as  it  consists  in  the  general  inspection  of  the 
whole  society  ;  and  to  be  subservient  to  the 
school,  as  to  their  order  and  methods  of  study  and 
instruction,  assisting  myself  in  the  immediate  in 
struction  in  the  arts  and  sciences  (as  discretion 
should  direct,  and  occasion  serve,  and  the  state 
of  things  require),  especially  of  the  senior  class  ; 
and,  added  to  all,  should  be  willing  to  do  the 
whole  work  of  a  professor  of  divinity  in  public 
and  private  lectures,  proposing  questions  to  be 
answered,  and  some  to  be  discussed  in  writing 
and  free  conversation,  in  meetings  of  graduates  and 
others,  appointed,  in  proper  seasons,  for  these  ends. 
It  would  be  now  out  of  my  way  to  spend  time  in 
a  constant  teaching  of  the  languages,  unless  it  be 
the  Hebrew  tongue,  which  I  should  be  willing  to 
improve  myself  in,  by  instructing  others. 

"  On  the  whole,  I    am    much    at  a  loss,  with 
respect  to  the  way  of  duty,  in  this  important  affair ; 


154  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

I  am  in  doubt,  whether,  if  I  should  engage 
in  it,  I  should  not  do  what  both  you  and  I  would 
be  sorry  for  afterwards.  Nevertheless,  I  think  the 
greatness  of  the  affair,  and  the  regard  due  to  so 
worthy  and  venerable  a  body,  as  that  of  the  trus 
tees  of  Nassau  Hall,  require  my  taking  the  mat 
ter  into  serious  consideration.  And,  unless  you 
should  appear  to  be  discouraged  by  the  things 
which  I  have  now  represented,  as  to  any  further 
expectations  from  me,  I  shall  proceed  to  ask  ad 
vice  of  such  as  I  esteem  most  wise,  friendly,  and 
faithful ;  if,  after  the  mind  of  the  Commissioners 
in  Boston  is  known,  it  appears  that  they  consent 
to  leave  me  at  liberty,  with  respect  to  the  busi 
ness  they  have  employed  me  in  here." 

This  letter  is  a  very  striking  document.  The 
unaffected  and  deep  humility,  which  it  manifests,  is 
not  more  remarkable  than  the  largeness  of  the 
views  which  it  discloses,  and  the  insatiable  desire 
for  improving  m  knowledge,  and  for  serving  his 
generation  in  that  way  for  which  he  considered 
himself  as  best  adapted,  which  it  strongly  ex 
presses,  and  which  seemed  ever  to  fill  his  mind. 

The  objections  which  he  urged,  the  trustees  of 
the  college  endeavored  to  obviate,  and  urged  him 
to  dismiss.  To  their  solicitations  were  added  the 
opinions  of  some  of  his  most  enlightened  and 
pious  friends,  whom  he  had  consulted,  and  who 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  155 

generally  concurred  in  advising  him  to  accept  of 
the  station  offered  him.  These  united  influences 
finally  prevailed.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the 
ecclesiastical  council,  summoned  to  consider  the 
case,  gave  a  decisive  judgment  in  favor  of  his  re 
moval,  that  he  declared  his  acceptance  of  the 
appointment. 

This  council  met  at  Stockbridge,  January  4th, 
1758  ;  and  after  having  heard  the  representation 
of  Mr.  Edwards,  and  the  objections  to  his  removal 
offered  by  the  people  of  his  charge,  on  the  one 
hand ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  plea  in  behalf  of  his 
removal,  presented  and  zealously  urged  by  the 
Reverend  Caleb  Smith  and  the  Reverend  John 
Brainerd,  who  appeared  in  behalf  of  the  college, 
they  decided  that  it  was  his  duty  to  accept  of  the 
presidency  to  which  he  was  called.  When 
the  council  publicly  announced  their  judgment 
and  advice  to  Mr.  Edwards,  and  to  the  people  of 
his  church,  he  appeared  much  moved,  and  burst 
into  tears,  a  thing  very  unusual  with  him  in  the 
presence  of  others ;  and  soon  afterwards  remarked 
to  the  members  of  the  council,  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  wonder  to  him,  that  they  could  so  easily, 
as  they  appeared  to  have  done,  obviate  the  objec 
tions  which  he  had  urged  against  his  removal. 
But,  as  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  be  governed  by 
their  aavice,  he  determined  cheerfully  to  acquiesce 
in  their  decision,  and  repair  to  the  scene  of  his 
future  labor. 


156  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

Accordingly  in  the  month  of  January ,  1758,  in 
a  lew  days  after  the  decision  of  the  council,  he 
set  out  from  Stockbridge  for  Princeton.  He  left 
his  family  in  Stockbridge,  with  the  intention  of  re 
moving  them  to  his  new  residence  in  the  spring. 
He  had  with  him  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Burr,  the 
widow  of  the  late  president,  and  Lucy,  his  fifth 
daughter,  who  afterwards  married  Mr.  Wood- 
bridge.  His  arrival  in  Princeton  was  an  event  of 
great  joy  to  the  college  and  its  friends ;  and,  in 
deed,  all  who  took  an  interest  in  the  promotion  of 
sound  learning,  in  union  with  evangelical  piety, 
were  greatly  rejoiced  to  see  such  a  man  taking 
charge  of  an  important  literary  institution,  and 
were  ready  to  congratulate  the  guardians  of  the 
college  on  their  happy  choice. 

In  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  Princeton,  he 
received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  venerable 
father,  who  departed  this  life  on  the  27th  of  Jan 
uary,  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  after  an 
unusually  protracted  ministry  of  great  acceptance 
and  usefulness. 

Mr.  Edwards  spent  several  weeks  in  Princeton, 
before  the  board  of  trustees  could  conveniently 
come  together,  and,  of  course,  before  his  formal 
introduction  to  the  presidentship  could  take  place. 
During  this  time,  as  the  college  was  then  in  ses 
sion,  he  preached  every  Sabbath  in  the  college 
chapel,  to  the  great  acceptance  of  his  hearers 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  157 

His  first  sermon  was  on  the  "  Unchangeableness 
of  Christ,"  from  Hebrews  xiii.  8.  The  tradition 
is,  that  he  was  more  than  two  hours  in  the  deliv 
ery  of  the  discourse ;  but  that  it  was  so  peculiarly 
instructive  and  solemn,  and  delivered  with  so 
much  earnestness,  that  his  hearers,  in  their  absorb 
ed  attention,  were  unconscious  of  the  lapse  cf 
time,  and  surprised  that  it  closed  so  soon. 

He  did  nothing  during  this  interval  in  the  way 
of  instruction  in  the  college,  except  giving  out 
rome  questions  in  theology  to  the  senior  class,  to 
be  answered  before  him ;  each  one  having  an  op 
portunity,  and  being  expected,  to  study  and  write 
on  each,  for  exhibition  at  a  future  meeting.  When 
they  came  together  to  answer  these  questions,  we 
are  informed,  they  found  their  interviews  so  in 
structive  and  interesting,  and  especially  the  re 
marks  of  the  President  elect,  so  rich  and  original, 
that  they  spoke  of  those  occasions  with  the  great 
est  delight  and  admiration. 

During  this  period,  Mr.  Edwards  appeared  to 
enjoy  peculiar  comfor*  in  religion.  He  intimated 
to  his  daughters  that  he  had  suffered  strong  con 
flicts  of  mind,  and  many  fears,  with  respect  to  his 
removal,  and  engaging  in  so  arduous  and  responsi 
ble  a  sphere  of  labor ,  out  that  he  had  become 
fully  persuaded,  that  he  was  called  of  God  to  do 
as  he  had  done,  and  that  he  enjoyed  the  tranquil 
and  confident  assurance  that  he  had  followed  the 
path  of  duty. 


158  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

The  board  of  trustees  of  the  college  met  on 
the  16th  day  of  February,  1758,  on  which  day 
he  was  solemnly  inaugurated  as  president,  taking 
the  oaths  of  office,  and  having  the  college  public 
ly  and  formally  committed  to  his  charge.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  qualified  as  a  trustee  of  the  col 
lege,  and  took  his  seat  accordingly. 

Neither  the  President,  nor  either  of  his  daugh 
ters  then  with  him,  had  had  the  small-pox.  In 
oculation  for  that  disease,  though  many  years 
before  introduced  into  America,  was  neither  so 
common,  nor  deemed  so  safe,  as  it  has  since  be 
come.  Cases  of  that  complaint  now  existed  at 
Princeton,  and  it  was  likely  to  spread.  It  was 
therefore  judged  best  by  the  friends  and  physician 
of  Mr.  Edwards,  that  he  and  his  daughters  should 
submit  to  inoculation.  The  board  of  trustees 
of  the  college,  being  in  session  when  the  proposal 
was  made,  were  consulted,  and  gave  their  consent 
to  the  measure.  A  skilful  physician  was  engaged 
to  come  from  Philadelphia  for  the  special  purpose 
of  inoculating  him  and  his  daughters,  which  was 
accordingly  performed  on  the  23d  of  February. 

He  appeared  to  have  the  disease  favorably,  and 
it  was  thought,  after  the  lapse  of  the  usual  time 
from  its  commencement,  that  it  had  nearly  com 
pleted  its  course,  and  that  all  danger  was  over. 
But  a  secondary  fever  supervened  ;  and,  by  reason 
of  the  great  number  of  pustules  in  his  throat,  the 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  159 

obstruction  was  such  that  the  necessary  medicines 
and  dietetic  preparations  could  not  be  administered ; 
the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  the  disease 
went  on  gathering  strength  until  it  put  an  end  to 
his  life,  on  the  22d  day  of  March,  1758,  in  the 
fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and  just  five  weeks  after 
his  introduction  into  office. 

After  he  became  sensible  that  he  could  not  long 
survive,  he  called  his  daughter  Lucy,  who  had 
faithfully  and  affectionately  attended  him  in  his 
illness,  and  addressed  her  in  a  few  words,  to  the 
following  effect.  "  Dear  Lucy,  it  seems  to  me 
to  be  the  will  of  God  that  I  must  shortly  leave 
you  ;  therefore  give  my  kindest  love  to  my  dear 
wife,  and  tell  her  that  the  uncommon  union  which 
has  so  long  subsisted  between  us,  has  been  of  such 
a  nature  as,  I  trust,  is  spiritual,  and  therefore  will 
continue  for  ever  ;  and  I  hope  she  will  be  sup 
ported  under  so  great  a  trial,  and  submit  cheer 
fully  to  the  will  of  God.  And  as  to  my  children, 
you  are  now  like  to  be  left  fatherless  ;  which  I 
hope  will  be  an  inducement  to  you  all  to  seek  a 
Father  who  will  never  fail  you.  And  as  to  my 
funeral,  I  would  have  it  to  be  like  Mr.  Burr's  ; 
and  any  additional  sum  of  money  that  might  be 
expected  to  be  laid  out  in  that  way,  I  would  have 
disposed  of  to  charitable  uses." 

President  Burr,  on  his  death-bed,  had  directed 
that  his  funeral  should  be  conducted  without  pomp 


160  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

or  cost ;  that  nothing  should  be  expended  but 
what  was  required  by  the  dictates  of  Christian 
decency ;  and  that  the  sum  which  would  have 
been  necessary  for  a  fashionable  funeral,  beyond 
the  cost  of  a  plain  and  decent  one,  should  be 
given  to  the  poor  out  of  his  estate. 

Mr.  Edwards  said  very  little  during  his  illness, 
but  set  an  admirable  example  of  patience  and 
resignation  to  the  last.  He  enjoyed  the  unin 
terrupted  exercise  of  his  reason  throughout  the 
whole.  Just  at  the  close  of  life,  as  some  persons 
who  stood  by,  expecting  he  would  breathe  his  last 
in  a  few  minutes,  were  lamenting  his  death,  not 
only  as  a  great  frown  on  the  college,  but  as  leaving 
a  dark  aspect  on  the  interest  of  religion  in  gen 
eral,  to  their  surprise,  not  imagining  that  he  heard, 
or  would  ever  speak  more,  he  said,  "  Trust  in 
God,  and  ye  need  not  fear."  These  were  his  last 
words.  He,  soon  after,  calmly,  and  without  a 
struggle,  fell  asleep. 

The  physician  who  attended  him  and  his  family 
on  this  occasion,  was  Dr.  William  Shippen,  of 
Philadelphia,  a  gentleman  of  great  professional 
eminence,  who  felt  with  the  deepest  sympathy 
the  value  of  the  life  which  had  been  committed 
to  his  care,  and  the  mournful  character  of  the 
bereavement  which  had  occurred  to  the  college, 
to  his  family,  and  to  the  public.  On  the  same 
day  on  which  the  decease  of  his  illustrious  patient 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  161 

occurred,  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the 
afflicted  widow,  at  Stockbridge. 

"Princeton,  22  March,  1758. 

"  MOST  DEAR  AND  VERY  WORTHY  MADAM, 

"  I  am  heartily  sorry  for  the  occasion  of  my 
writing  to  you,  by  this  express  ;  but  I  know  you 
have  been  informed,  by  a  line  from  your  excellent, 
lovely,  and  pious  husband,  that  I  was  brought  here 
to  inoculate  him  and  your  dear  daughter  Esther, 
and  her  children,  for  the  small-pox,  which  was 
then  spreading  fast  in  Princeton  ;  and  that,  after 
the  most  deliberate  and  serious  consultation  with 
his  nearest  and  most  religious  friends,  he  was  ac 
cordingly  inoculated,  with  them,  the  23d  of  last 
month ;  and,  although  he  had  the  small-pox  favor 
ably,  yet,  having  a  number  of  them  in  the  roof 
of  his  mouth  and  throat,  he  could  not  possibly 
swallow  a  sufficient  quantity  of  drink  to  keep  off 
a  secondary  fever,  which  has  proved  too  strong  for 
his  feeble  frame ;  and  this  afternoon,  between  two 
and  three  o'clock,  it  pleased  God  to  let  him  sleep 
in  that  dear  Lord  Jesus,  whose  kingdom  and  in 
vest  he  has  been  faithfully  and  painfully  serving 
all  his  life.  And  never  did  any  mortal  man  more 
fully  and  clearly  evidence  the  sincerity  of  all  his 
professions,  by  one  continued,  universal,  calm, 
cheerful  resignation,  and  patient  submission  to  the 
Divine  will,  through  every  stage  of  his  disease 

L— 11 


162  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

than  he ;  not  so  much  as  one  discontented  ex 
pression,  nor  the  least  appearance  of  murmuring, 
through  the  whole.  And  never  did  any  person 
expire  with  more  perfect  freedom  from  pain ;  not 
so  much  as  one  distorted  hair ;  but,  in  the  most 
proper  sense  of  the  words,  he  fell  asleep.  Death 
had  certainly  lost  its  sting  as  to  him. 

"  Your  daughter,  Mrs.  Burr,  and  her  children, 
through  the  mercy  of  God,  are  safely  over  the 
disease,  and  she  desires  me  to  send  her  duty  to 
you,  the  best  of  mothers.  She  has  had  the  small 
pox  the  heaviest  of  all  whom  I  have  inoculated, 
and  little  Sally  for  the  lightest.  She  has  but 
three  in  her  face.  I  am  sure  it  will  prove  ser 
viceable  to  her  future  health. 

"I   conclude    with    my   hearty    prayers,   dear 
Madam,  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  look  to  that 
God  whose  love   and  goodness   you   have   expe 
rienced  a  thousand  times,  for  direction  and  help, 
under  this  most  afflictive  dispensation  of  his  prov 
idence,  and  under  every  other  difficulty  you  may 
meet  with  here,  in  order  to  your  being  more  per 
fectly  fitted  for  the  joys  of  Heaven  hereafter. 

"I  am,  dear  Madam,  your  most  sympathizing 
and  affectionate  friend,  and  very  humble  servant, 

"WILLIAM  SHIPPEN." 

This  letter  reached  Mrs.  Edwards  while  in  a 
very  feeble  state  of  health,  when  she  was  pre- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  163 

paring  to  pay  a  visit,  first  to  a  sister  at  West 
Springfield,  and  then  to  her  mother-in-law  at 
Windsor,  who  had  lately  become  a  widow,  by  the 
death  of  President  Edwards's  father.  What  her 
feelings  were  on  receiving  the  unexpected  and 
sad  intelligence  which  it  contained,  may  be  more 
easily  imagined  than  described.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  however,  that  some  time  before,  she  had 
told  some  of  her  intimate  friends,  that,  after  many 
struggles  and  counter  exercises,  she  had  obtained, 
by  God's  grace,  an  habitual  willingness  to  die  her 
self,  or  to  give  up  her  nearest  and  dearest  relatives 
whenever  ;ie  might  please  to  call  for  them.  Ac 
cordingly,  when  this  heavy  trial  came,  she  was 
enabled  to  sustain  it  with  the  most  exemplary 
composure  ind  submission.  A  few  days  after  she 
received  th<3  intelligence,  she  addressed  the  fol 
lowing  letter  to  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Burr. 

"  Stockbridge,  3  April,  1758. 

«  MY  VERY  DEAR  CHILD, 

"  What  shall  I  say  ?  A  holy  and  good  God  has 
covered  us  with  a  dark  cloud  !  Oh  that  we  may 
kiss  the  rod,  and  lay  our  hands  on  our  mouths  ! 
The  Lord  has  done  it.  He  has  made  me  adore 
his  goodness  that  we  had  him  so  long.  But  my 
God  lives  ;  and  he  has  my  heart.  Oh  what  a 
_eg»cy  my  husband  and  your  father  has  left  us ! 


164  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

We  are  all  given  to  God  ;  and  there  I  am,  and 
love  to  be. 

"  Your  ever  affectionate  mother, 

"  SARAH  EDWARDS. " 

On  the  same  sheet  was  the  following  letter 
from  one  of  her  daughters. 

"  Stockbridge,  3  April,  1758. 
"  MY  DEAR  SISTER, 

"  My  mother  wrote  this  with  a  great  deal  of 
pain  in  her  neck,  which  disabled  her  from  writing 
any  more.  She  thought  you  would  be  glad  of 
these  few  lines  from  her  own  hand. 

"  O  dear  sister,  how  many  calls  have  we,  one 
upon  the  back  of  another!  Oh,  I  beg  your  prayers 
that  we,  who  are  young  in  the  family,  may  be 
awakened  and  excited  to  call  more  earnestly  on 
God,  that  he  would  be  our  father  and  friend  for 
ever. 

"  My  father  took  leave  of  all  his  people  and 
family,  as  affectionately  as  if  he  knew  he  should 
not  come  again.  On  the  Sabbath  afternoon  he 
preached  from  these  words ;  We  have  no  con 
tinuing  city;  therefore  let  us  seek  one  to  come 
The  chapter  that  he  read  was  Acts  the  20th. 
Oh  how  proper !  What  could  he  have  done  more  ? 
When  he  had  got  out  of  doors,  he  turned  about 
and  said,  f  I  commit  you  to  God.'  I  doubt  not 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  165 

but  God  will  take  a  fatherly  care  of  us,  if  we 
do  not  forget  him. 

"  I  am  your  ever  affectionate  sister, 

"  SUSANNAH  EDWARDS." 

Mrs.  Burr  and  her  children  were  inoculated  at 
the  same  time  with  her  father,  and  had  recovered 
prior  to  his  death.  But,  after  she  was,  to  all  ap 
pearance,  perfectly  recovered,  she  was  suddenly 
seized  with  a  violent  disorder,  which  carried  he" 
off  in  a  few  days ;  and  which  the  physician  said 
he  could  call  by  no  name  but  that  of  a  mes 
senger,  sent  suddenly  to  call  her  out  of  the  world. 
She  died  April  7th,  1758,  sixteen  days  after  her 
father,  in  the  27th  year  of  her  age.  She  left  two 
children,  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Her  son  was  the 
late  Aaron  Burr,  once  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  who  died  in  September,  1836. 
Her  daughter  afterwards  married  the  Honorable 
Judge  Reeve,  of  Connecticut,  and  died  a  number 
of  years  ago.  Mrs.  Burr  was,  in  every  respect, 
an  ornament  to  her  sex ;  being  equally  distin 
guished  for  her  personal  beauty,  the  suavity  of  her 
manners,  her  literary  accomplishments,  and  her 
ardent  piety.  She  combined  a  lively  imagination, 
a  delicate  wit,  and  great  intellectual  acuteness, 
with  a  correct  judgment.  When  only  seven  or 
eight  years  of  age,  she  became  hopefully  pious, 
arid  made  a  profession  of  religion  at  a  very  early 


166  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

period  of  life.  Her  conduct  to  the  last  adorned 
her  profession.  Her  death  was  peaceful  and  hap 
py.  She  left  a  number  of  manuscripts  on  inter 
esting  subjects,  which  it  was  hoped  would  be 
made  public ;  but  they  are  now  lost. 

Mrs.  Edwards  did  not  long  survive  her  husband 
In  the  September  following  his  death  she  set  out, 
in  good  health,  on  a  journey  to  Philadelphia,  for 
the  purpose  of  attending  to  her  two  orphan  grand 
children,  who  were  now  in  that  city,  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  Dr.  Shippen,  where  they  had 
been  since  the  death  of  Mrs.  Burr.  As  they  had 
no  relatives  there,  Mrs.  Edwards  intended  to  take 
them  into  her  own  family.  She  arrived  in  Phila 
delphia,  by  way  of  Princeton,  in  safety,  after  a 
comfortable  journey.  But,  in  a  few  days  after 
her  arrival,  she  was  seized  with  a  violent  dysen 
tery,  which,  on  the  fifth  day  after  her  seizure,  ter 
minated  her  life,  on  the  2d  day  of  October,  1758. 
Though  exercised  with  severe  pain  during  the 
greater  part  of  her  illness,  she  manifested  great 
composure  and  resignation ;  and,  when  she  became 
sensible  that  her  end  was  approaching,  she  ex 
pressed  an  earnest  desire  to  be  entirely  conformed 
to  the  will  of  God  in  all  things,  and  to  glorify  him 
to  the  last.  In  this  joyful  and  triumphant  frame 
she  departed.  Her  remains  were  carried  to 
Princeton,  and  deposited  with  those  of  Mr.  Ed 
wards.  They  had  lived  together  in  the  married 
state  a  little  more  than  thirtv  years. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  167 

The  trustees  of  the  college  assembled  in  a  few 
days  after  the  demise  of  their  beloved  and  revered 
President,  and,  having  passed  a  vote  respecting  his 
salary  honorable  to  their  liberality,  ordered  a  mon 
ument  to  be  placed  over  his  grave,  in  the  cemete 
ry  at  Princeton,  and  provided  for  it  the  following 
inscription. 

M.  S. 

Reverend!  admodum  Viri, 

JONATHAN  EDWARDS,  A.  M., 

Collegii  Novse  Caesarese  Prsesidis. 

Natus  apud  Windsor,  Connecticutensium, 

V.  Octobris, 

A.  D.  MDCCIII.  S.  V. 

Patre  reverendo  Timotheo  Edwards  oriundus ; 

Collegio  Yalensi  educatus ; 
Apud  Northampton  sacris  initiatus,  XV.  Februaru, 

MDCCXXVI  —  VII. 

Illinc  dimissus  XXII.  Junii,  MDCCL. 

Et  Munus  Barbaros  instituendi  accepit. 

Prceses  Aulse  Nassovicae  creatus  XVI.  February 

MDCCLVIII. 

Defimctus  in  hoc  Vico  XXII.  Martii  sequentis,  S.  N 
^Etatis  LV.  heu  nimis  brevis ! 

Hie  jacet  mortalis  pars. 

Qualis  Persona,  quaeris,  Viator  ? 

Vir  corpore  procero,  sed  gracili, 

Studiis  intentissimis,  abstinentia,  et  sedulitate 

Attenuato. 
Ingenii  acumine,  Judicio  acn,  et  Prudential 

Secundus  nemini  Mortalium. 
Artium  liberalium  et  Scientiarura  peritia  insignia, 


168  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

Criticorum  sacrorum  optimus,  Theologus  eximiua, 

Ut  vix  alter  sequalis ;  Disputator  Candidas ; 

Fidei  Christian®  Propugnator  validus  et  invictus  5 

Concionator  gravis,  serius,  discriminans, 

Et,  Deo  ferente,  successu 

Felicissimus. 

Pietate  prseclarus,  Moribus  suis  severus, 

Ast  aliis  sequus  et  benignus. 

Vixit  dilectus,  veneratus  — 

Sed,  ah !  lugendus 

Moriebatur. 

Quantos  gemitus  discedens  ciebat! 

Heu  Sapientia  tanta !  heu  Doctrina  et  Religio 

Amissum  plorat  Collegium,  plorat  et  Ecclesia; 

At,  eo  *ecepto,  gaudet 

Coelum. 
Abi,  Viator,  et  pia  sequere  vestigia. 

The  person  of  Mr.  Edwards,  as  will  be  gath 
ered  from  the  foregoing  epitaph,  was  tall  and  slen 
der.    He  was  a  little  more  than  six  feet  in  stature 
His  countenance  was  strongly  marked  with  intelli 
gence  and  benignity;  and  his  manners  were  pe 
culiarly  expressive   of  modesty,    gentleness,  and 
Christian  dignity.     His  voice,  in  public  speaking, 
was  rather  feeble,  and  he  had  little  or  no  gesture. 
Yet  such  were   the   gravity  of  his  manner,  the 
weight  and  solemnity  of  his  thoughts,  and  the  evi 
dent  earnestness  of  his  delivery,  that  few  preach 
ers  were  listened  to  with  more  fixed  attention, 
or  left  a  more  deep  and  permanent  impression. 

Mr  Edwards  was  the  father  of  eleven  children ; 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  109 

three  sons  and  eight  daughters.  One  of  these, 
his  second  daughter,  died  eleven  years  before  him, 
in  the  17th  year  of  her  age.  All  the  rest  surviv 
ed  him,  and  some  of  them  a  number  of  years.* 
One  only  of  his  sons  became  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel.  This  was  his  second  son,  Jonathan,  who 
greatly  resembled  his  venerable  father  in  meta 
physical  acuteness,  in  ardent  piety,  and  in  the 
purest  exemplariness  of  Christian  deportment. 
But  the  resemblance  to  his  illustrious  parent  did 
not  stop  here.  There  was  a  remarkable  likeness 
in  their  whole  history.  Jonathan  Edwards,  Junior, 
took  the  pastoral  charge  of  a  church  in  New  Ha 
ven,  where  he  remained  about  twenty-seven  years. 
At  the  end  of  that  time,  though  bearing  an  un 
blemished  and  excellent  Christian  and  ministerial 
character,  he  was  dismissed  by  the  desire  of  the 
people  of  his  charge. 

From  New  Haven  he  removed  to  Colebrook,  a 
small  congregation,  in  a  remote,  frontier  part  of 
Connecticut,  not  far  from  Stockbridge,  of  which 
he  remained  pastor  about  three  years.  At  the 
end  of  this  time,  he  was  invited  to  the  presidency 
of  Union  College,  at  Schenectady,  which  he  ac 
cepted  ;  from  which  office  he  was  removed  by 
death,  in  a  few  months  after  entering  on  its  du 
ties,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  —  almost 

*  Pierrepont,  the  youngest  child,  died  April  14, 1826. 


170  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

exactly  the  same  age  which  his  father  had  reached 
at  the  close  of  his  course.* 

*  After  his  removal  to  Schenectady,  a  friend,  one  day, 
in  conversation,  reminded  him  of  the  remarkable  similar 
ity  of  his  history,  thus  far,  to  that  of  his  father.  He  re 
cognised  it  as  striking.  Upon  which  his  friend  added, 
Well,  Sir,  if  the  likeness  is  to  be  continued,  your  next 
removal  will  be  to  the  grave."  This  prediction,  if  it 
may  be  so  called,  was  realized  in  a  few  months. 


JONATHAN    EDWARDS.  171 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Estimate  of  his  Character.  —  Estimate  of  Dr. 
Chalmers.  —  Robert  Hall.  —  Dr.  ErsJcine.— 
Sir  Henry  Moncreiff.  —  Sir  James  Mackin 
tosh.  —  Professor  Taylor.  —  Dug  aid  Stewart. 
— Dr.  Green.  —Dr.  Middleton.  —  Dr.  Priest 
ley.  —  General  Statements. 

THE  most  competent  judges,  in  respect  to  botn 
intelligence  and  impartiality,  for  the  last  fifty  years, 
have  been  unanimous  in  ascribing  to  President 
Edwards  a  place  in  the  very  first  rank  of  great 
men.  Indeed  his  character  was  so  singularly  full- 
orbed  and  complete,  that  the  most  sober  and  faith 
ful  portrait  of  it  must  appear,  to  those  who  have 
not  studied  it,  to  encroach  on  the  extravagance 
of  eulogy.  But  those  who  had  no  partiality  in 
his  favor,  and  even  those  who  must  have  been 
powerfully  repelled  by  his  theological  creed,  have 
indulged  in  unqualified  praise.  A  few  of  the  tes 
timonies  to  this  amount  shall  stand  in  the  front  of 
those  views  of  the  subject,  which  it  is  intended  to 
present  before  we  close  our  memoir  of  this  extra 
ordinary  man. 

The  following  estimate  by  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Chalmers,  of  Scotland,  shall  occupy  the  first  pla  e 
in  our  list  of  testimonials. 


172  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 


cannot  take  leave  of  EDWARDS  without 
testifying  the  whole  extent  of  the  reverence  that 
we  bear  him.  On  the  arena  of  metaphysics,  he 
stood  the  highest  of  all  his  contemporaries,  and 
that,  too,  at  a  time  when  Hume  was  aiming  his 
deadliest  thrusts  at  the  foundations  of  moralit), 
and  had  thrown  over  the  infidel  cause  the  whole 
eclat  of  his  reputation.  The  American  divine  af 
fords,  perhaps,  the  most  wondrous  example,  in 
modern  times,  of  one  who  stood  richly  gifted  both 
in  natural  and  in  spiritual  discernment;  and  we 
know  not  what  most  to  admire  in  him,  whether 
the  deep  philosophy  that  issued  from  his  pen,  or 
the  humble  and  childlike  piety  that  issued  from 
his  pulpit  ;  whether  when,  as  an  author,  he  deals 
forth  upon  his  readers  the  subtilties  of  profoundest 
argument,  or  when,  as  a  Christian  minister,  he 
deals  forth  upon  his  hearers  the  simplicities  of  the 
Gospel  ;  whether  it  is,  when  we  witness  the  im 
pression  that  he  made,  by  his  writings,  on  the 
schools  and  high  seats  of  literature,  or  the  impres 
sion  that  he  made,  by  his  unlabored  addresses,  on 
the  plain  consciences  of  a  plain  congregation. 

"  In  the  former  capacity,  he  could  estimate  the 
genuineness  of  the  Christianity,  that  had  before 
been  fashioned  on  the  person  of  a  disciple  ;  but 
it  was  in  the  latter  capacity,  and  speaking  of  him 
as  an  instrument,  that  he  fashioned  it,  as  it  were, 
tvith  his  own  hands.  In  the  former  capacity,  he 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  173 

sat  in  judgment  as  a  critic,  on  the  resemblance 
that  there  was  between  the  seal  of  God's  word, 
and  the  impression  that  had  been  made  on  the 
fleshly  tablet  of  a  human  heart ;  in  the  latter  ca 
pacity,  he  himself  took  up  the  seal,  and  gave  the 
imprinting  touch,  by  which  the  heart  is  conformed 
to  the  obedience  of  the  faith.  The  former  was 
a  speculative  capacity,  by  which  he  acted  as  a 
connoisseur,  who  pronounced  on  the  accordancy 
that  obtained  between  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  character  that  had  been  submitted  to  its 
influence  ;  the  latter  was  an  executive  capacity, 
under  which  he  acted  as  a  practitioner,  who 
brought  about  this  accordancy,  and  so  handled 
the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  as  to  mould  and  sub 
ordinate  thereunto  the  character  of  the  people 
with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  Tn  the  one  he  was 
an  overseer,  who  inspected  and  gave  his  deliver 
ance  on  the  quality  of  another's  work ;  in  the 
other,  he  was  the  workman  himself;  and  while, 
as  the  philosopher,  he  could  discern,  and  discern 
truly,  between  the  sterling  and  the  counterfeit  in 
Christianity ;  still  it  was  as  the  humble  and  de 
voted  pastor,  that  Christianity  was  made,  or  Chris 
tianity  was  multiplied,  in  his  hands. 

"  Now  conceive  these  two  faculties,  which  were 
exemplified  in  such  rare  and  happy  combination 
m  Edwards,  to  be  separated  the  one  from  the 
other,  and  given  respectively  to  two  individuals. 


174  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

One  of  these  would  then  be  so  gifted,  as  mat  he 
cculd  apply  the  discriminating  tests,  by  which  to 
judge  of  Christianity  ;  and  the  other  of  them 
would  be  so  gifted,  as  that,  instrumentally  speak 
ing,  he  could  make  Christians.  One  of  them 
could  do  what  Edwards  did  from  the  pulpit ; 
another  of  them  could  do  what  Edwards  did  from 
the  press.  Without  such  judges  and  overseers 
as  the  former,  the  faith  of  the  Christian  world 
might  be  occasionally  disfigured  by  the  excesses 
of  fanaticism ;  but,  without  such  agents  as  the  lat 
ter,  faith  might  cease  to  be  formed,  and  the  abuses 
be  got  rid  of  only  by  getting  rid  of  the  whole 
stock  upon  which  such  abuses  are  occasionally 
grafted." 

"  To  judge  of  an  impression  requires  one  species 
of  talent ;  to  make  an  impression  requires  another. 
They  both  may  exist  in  a  very  high  degree,  as 
in  the  case  of  Edwards.  But  they  may  also 
exist  apart ;  and  often,  in  particular,  may  the  lat 
ter  of  the  two  be  found  in  great  efficiency  and 
vigor,  when  the  former  of  the  two  may  be  utterly 
wanting.  The  right  way  for  a  church  is  to  en 
courage  both  these  talents  to  the  uttermost ;  and 
not  to  prevent  the  evils  of  a  bad  currency,  by 
laying  such  an  arrest  on  the  exercise  of  the  latter 
talent,  as  that  we  shall  have  no  currency  at  all."  * 

*  Christian  and  Civic  Economy  of  Large  Towns,  Vol.  1. 
po  318  -322. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  175 

The  celebrated  Robert  Hall,  of  England,  un 
doubtedly  one  of  the  most  profound  and  eloquent 
men  that  his  country  has  produced  for  the  last 
three  quarters  of  a  century,  always  spoke  of  Ed 
wards  as  a  most  extraordinary  man,  as  a  profound 
and  original  thinker,  and  as  decidedly  a  greater 
man  than  Dr.  John  Owen,  with  whom  he  has 
been  often  compared.  He  declared,  that  he  had 
perused  and  reperused  his  works  on  the  "  Will," 
and  on  "  Religious  Affections,"  before  he  was  nine 
years  of  age,  with  intense  interest,  and  that  he 
continued  to  study  his  works  for  sixty  years,  with 
undiminished  pleasure.* 

The  venerable  and  learned  Dr.  Erskine,  of 
Scotland,  in  a  letter  concerning  Mr.  Edwards's 
death,  written  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  McCulloch, 
of  CamKislang,  speaks  thus  ;  "  The  loss  sustained 
by  his  death,  not  only  by  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  but  by  the  church  in  general,  is  irrepara 
ble.  I  do  not  think  our  age  has  produced  a  divine 
of  equal  genius  or  judgment."  f 

The  Reverend  Sir  Henry  Moncreiff  Well- 
wood,  also  of  Scotland,  the  contemporary,  friend, 
and  biographer  of  Dr.  Erskine,  speaking  of  Ed- 
wards's  work  on  the  Will,  expresses  the  follow 
ing  opinion.  "  He  was  not  indebted  to  any  other 
writer  for  the  most  important  part  of  his  materials, 

*  Hall's  Works,  Vol.  III.  pp.  4,  65,  79. 

f  Erskine's  Life,  by  Sir  H.  Moncreiff  Wellwood,  p.  5224 


176  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY 

which  he  appears  to  have  drawn  almost  entirely 
from  his  own  reflections  and  resources.  Though 
in  many  points  he  coincides  with  the  opinions  of 
authors,  whose  productions  do  not  appear  to  have 
reached  him,  it  is  impossible  to  deny,  that  the 
structure  and  ingenuity  of  his  arguments  are  his 
own,  or  to  withhold  from  him  the  praise  of  an 
original  writer."  * 

The  estimate  of  Edwards  by  Sir  James  Mack 
intosh,  the  learned  and  eloquent  advocate,  and 
the  friend  of  Robert  Hall,  is  expressed  in  the  fol 
lowing  strong  terms,  speaking  of  himself  and 
his  beloved  friend,  when  together  at  the  Universi 
ty  at  Aberdeen,  "  We  lived  together  in  the  same 
house,  and  were  both  very  disputatious.  He  led 
me  to  the  perusal  of  Jonathan  Edwards's  book  on 
Free  Will,  which  Dr.  Priestley  had  pointed  out 
before.  I  am  sorry  that  I  never  yet  read  the  other 
works  of  that  most  extraordinary  man,  who,  in  a 
metaphysical  age  or  country,  would  certainly  have 
been  deemed  as  much  the  boast  of  America,  as 
his  great  countryman,  Franklin."  f  In  another 
work  he  speaks  of  Edwards,  by  way  of  eminence, 
as  "  the  metaphysician  of  America,"  and  express 
es  the  opinion  that,  "  in  the  power  of  subtile  argu 
ment,  he  was,  perhaps,  unmatched,  certainly  wr- 
surpassed  among  men."$ 

*  Erskine  s  Life,  p.  217. 

f  Memoirs  of  Sir  J.  Mackintosh,  Vol.  I.  p.  22. 

*  Progress  of  Ethical  Philosophy,  p.  108. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  177 

Professor  Taylor,  the  author  of  the  "  Natural 
History  of  Enthusiasm,"  and  other  admired  works, 
in  his  "  Essay  on  the  Application  of  Abstract 
Reasoning  to  the  Christian  Doctrines,"  prefixed 
to  an  edition  of  Edwards  on  the  Will,  speaks  in 
the  following  language  of  that  illustrious  writer 
"  Whatever  may,  in  the  next  age,  be  the  fate  of 
the  'Inquiry  concerning  the  Freedom  of  the 
Will,'  (in  the  present  age  it  holds  all  its  honors 
and  authority,)  it  may  be  safely  predicted,  that  at 
least  as  an  instance  of  exact  analysis,  of  profound 
or  perfect  abstraction,  of  conclusive  logic,  and  of 
calm  discussion,  this  celebrated  essay  will  long  sup 
port  its  reputation,  and  will  continue  to  be  used  as 
a  classic  material  in  the  business  of  intellectual 
education.  If  literary  ambition  had  been,  as  cer 
tainly  it  was  not,  the  active  element  of  the  au 
thor's  mind,  (as  it  was  the  single  motive  in  the 
mind  of  his  contemporary  and  admirer,  Hume,)  and 
if  he  could  have  foreseen  the  reputation  of  his 
'  Essay  on  Free  Will, '  he  need  have  envied  very 
few  aspirants  to  philosophic  fame.  What  higher 
praise  could  a  scientific  writer  wish  for,  than  that 
of  having,  by  a  small  and  single  dissertation,  re 
duced  a  numerous  and  a  powerful  party,  in  his 
own  and  other  countries,  and  from  his  own  day 
to  the  present  time,  to  the  sad  necessity  of  mak 
ing  a  blank  protest  against  the  argument  and  infer 
ence  of  the  book,  and  of  saying  the  reasoning  of 

I.— 12 


178  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Edwards  must  be  a  sophism,  for  it  overthrows  our 
doctrine?  And  then,  if  we  turn  from  theology  to 
science,  from  divines  to  philosophers,  we  see  the 
modest  pastor  of  the  Calvinists  of  Northampton, 
assigned  to  a  seat  of  honor  among  sages,  and  al 
lowed  (if  he  will  lay  aside  his  faith  and  his  Bible) 
to  speak,  and  to  utter  decisions,  as  a  master  of 
science." 

"  The  Life  of  Edwards  should  be  perused  by 
every  one  who  reads  his  '  Essay  on  Freedom 
of  Will.'  Let  it  be  said,  that  his  style  of  Chris 
tianity  might  have  borne  some  corrections ;  and 
let  it  also  be  admitted,  that  in  his  modesty,  and 
his  low  estimation  of  himself,  and  in  his  love  of 
retirement,  his  melancholic  temperament  had  an 
influence.  After  every  deduction  of  this  sort  has 
been  made,  it  must  be  granted,  that  this  eminent 
man,  whose  intellectual  superiority  might  have  en 
abled  him  to  shine  in  European  colleges  of  learn 
ing,  displayed  a  meek  greatness  of  soul,  which 
belongs  only  to  those  who  derive  their  principles 
from  the  Gospel.  How  refreshing  is  the  contrast 
of  sentiments,  which  strikes  us  in  turning  from  the 
private  correspondence  of  men  who  thought  of 
nothing  beyond  their  personal  fame  as  philosophers 
or  writers,  to  the  correspondence  and  diary  of  a 
man  like  Edwards  !  In  the  one  case,  the  single, 
paramount  motive,  —  literary  or  philosophic  varii- 
tv,  —  lurks  in  every  sentence ;  unblushingly  shows 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  179 

itself  on  many  a  page,  and,  when  most  concealed, 
is  concealed  by  an  affectation  as  loathsome  as  the 
fault  it  hides.  But  how  much  of  this  deformed 
self-love  could  the  most  diligent  detractor  cull  from 
the  private  papers  or  works  of  the  President  of  the 
College  of  New  Jersey  ?  We  question  if  a  single 
sentence,  which  could  be  fairly  construed  to  betray 
the  vanity  or  ambition  of  superior  intelligence,  is 
anywhere  to  be  found  in  them.  Edwards  daily 
contemplated  a  glory,  —  an  absolute  excellence, 
which  at  once  checked  the  swellings  of  pride, 
and  sickened  him  of  the  praise,  which  his  powers 
might  have  won  from  the  world. 

"  Edwards  (though,  in  listening  to  his  own  ac 
count  of  himself,  one  would  not  think  it)  was  c 
man  of  genius.  We  mean  imaginative,  and  open 
to  all  those  moving  sentiments,  which  raise  high 
souls  above  the  present  scene  of  things.  Among 
the  reasons  which  inclined  him  to  excuse  him 
self  from  the  proffered  presidency,  he  alleges, 
first,  his  own  defects,  unfitting  him  for  such  an  un 
dertaking,  c  many  of  which  are  generally  known, 
says  he,  '  besides  others,  which  my  own  heart  is 
conscious  of.  I  have  a  constitution  in  many  re 
spects  peculiarly  unhappy,  attended  with  flaccid 
solids,  vapid,  sizy,  and  scarce  fluids  ;  and  a  low 
trde  of  spirits,  often  occasioning  a  kind  of  childish 
weakness,  and  contemptibleness  of  speech,  pres 
ence,  and  demeanor  ;  with  a  disagreeable  dulresa 


180  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  stiffness,  much  unfitting  me  for  conversation, 
but  more  especially  for  the  government  of  a  eol 
lege.'  This  description  of  his  mental  conforma 
tion  is  curious,  physiologically,  as  an  anatomy  of  a 
mind  so  remarkable  for  its  faculty  of  abstraction 
May  we  not  say,  that  this  very  poverty  of  con 
stitution,  this  sluggishness  and  aridity,  this  feeble 
pulse  of  life,  was  the  very  secret  of  his  extraordi 
nary  power  of  analysis  ?  The  supposition  leads  to 
speculations  concerning  the  physical  conditions  of 
the  mind,  which  must  not  here  be  pursued  ;  but  it 
may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  it  must  be  from 
the  copious  collection,  and  right  use,  of  facts  of 
this  sort,  that  progress  will  be  made  (if  ever)  in 
the  science  of  mind. 

"  But,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  coldness  of 
his  temperament,  Edwards  was  manifestly  suscep 
tible,  and  in  no  common  degree,  of  those  emo 
tions  which  are  rarely  conjoined  with  the  philo 
sophic  faculty.  Let  an  instance  be  taken  from  his 
Diary.  c  There  seemed  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  calm, 
sweet  cast,  an  appearance  of  divine  glory  in  al 
most  every  thing ;  God's  excellency,  his  wisdom, 
his  purity,  and  love,  seemed  to  appear  in  every 
thing  ;  in  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  in  the  clouds 
and  blue  sky  ;  in  the  grass,  flowers,  trees  ;  in  the 
water,  and  all  nature,  which  seemed  greatly  to  fix 
my  mind.  I  often  used  to  sit  and  view  the  moon 
for  continuance,  and  in  the  day  spent  much  time 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  181 

in  viewing  the  clouds  and  sky,  to  behold  the 
sweet  glory  of  God  in  these  things  ;  in  the  mean 
time  singing  forth,  with  a  low  voice,  my  contem 
plations  of  the  Creator  and  Redeemer.  And 
scarce  any  thing  among  all  the  works  of  nature 
was  so  sweet  to  me  as  thunder  and  lightning  ;  for 
merly  nothing  had  been  so  terrible  to  me.  While 
thus  engaged,  it  always  seemed  natural  to  me  to 
sing  or  chant  forth  my  meditations,  or  to  speak  i.jy 
thoughts  in  soliloquies  with  a  singing  voice.' 

"  That  Edwards,  by  constitution  of  mind,  was 
more  than  a  dry  and  cold  thinker,  might  be  proved 
by  many  passages  even  in  his  '  Essay  on  Free 
Will,'  as  well  as  his  less  abstruse  writings.  He 
was  master,  in  fact,  of  a  simple  eloquence  of  no 
mean  order  ;  — (  Holiness,  as  I  then  wrote  down 
some  of  my  contemplations  on  it,  appeared  to  me 
to  be  of  a  sweet,  pleasant,  charming,  serene,  calm 
nature,  which  brought  an  inexpressible  purity, 
brightness,  peacefulness,  and  ravishment  to  the 
soul.  In  other  words,  that  it  made  the  soul  like  a 
field  or  garden  of  God,  with  all  manner  of  pleas 
ant  flowers  ;  all  pleasant,  delightful,  and  undisturb 
ed,  enjoying  a  sweet  calm,  and  the  gently  vivifying 
beams  of  the  sun.  The  soul  of  a  true  Christian, 
as  I  then  wrote  my  meditations,  appeared  like 
such  a  little  white  flower  as  we  see  in  the  spring 
of  the  year,  low  and  humble,  on  the  ground ; 
opening  its  bosom  to  receive  the  pleasant  beam* 


132  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  the  sun's  glory ;  rejoicing,  as  it  were,  in  a  calm 
rapture  ;  diffusing  around  a  sweet  fragrancy  ;  stand 
ing  peacefully  and  lovingly  in  the  midst  of  other 
flowers  round  about ;  all,  in  like  manner,  opening 
their  bosoms  to  drink  in  the  light  of  the  sun. 
There  was  no  part  of  creature  holiness  that  I  had 
so  great  a  sense  of  its  loveliness,  as  humility, 
brokenness  of  heart,  and  poverty  of  spirit ;  and 
there  was  nothing  I  so  earnestly  longed  for.  My 
heart  panted,  after  this,  to  lie  low  before  God,  as 
in  the  dust,  that  I  might  be  nothing,  and  that  God 
might  be  all,  that  I  might  become  as  a  little  child.' 

"  These  sentiments  were  not  the  exuberances 
of  a  youthful,  melancholic  ardor,  but  gave  tone  to 
the  character  and  conduct  of  the  man  through 
life.  To  accomplish  the  will  of  God  on  earth 
was  the  ruling  motive  of  his  soul ;  and  to  have 
sought  his  own  glory,  he  would  have  thought  an 
enormous  departure  from  true  virtue.  If  his  defi 
nition  of  true  virtue  be  liable  to  objection,  his  ex 
emplification  of  it  showed  him  to  have  understood 
practically  the  secret  of  all  substantial  goodness  "  * 

If  these  paragraphs  have  appeared  long  to  the 
reader,  let  it  be  recollected  that  they  express  the 
opinion  of  one  eminent  man  concerning  another* 
still  more  eminent,  whose  character  is  worthy  of 
being  closely  studied,  and  which,  unless  it  be  thus 
studied,  will  never  be  adequately  appreciated. 

*  Essay  on  the  Application,  &c.,  Note  A,  pp.    18-21. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  183 

The  judgment  of  the  celebrated  Dugald  Stewart 
concerning  one,  whose  writings  hold  so  impor 
tant  a  place  in  the  philosophy  of  the  human  mind, 
will  be  regarded  with  respect  by  all  competent 
critics.  That  distinguished  man,  after  having  spo 
ken  at  large  of  the  systems  of  Locke  and  Leib 
nitz,  of  Berkeley  and  Condillac,  expresses  himself 
thus  concerning  President  Edwards ;  "  There  is, 
however,  one  metaphysician,  of  whom  America 
has  to  boast,  who,  in  logical  acuteness  and  sub- 
tilty,  does  not  yield  to  any  disputant  bred  in  the 
universities  of  Europe.  I  need  not  say  that  I 
allude  to  JONATHAN  EDWARDS." 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  one  of  the 
successors  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir  in  the 
presidency  of  New  Jersey  College,  presents  the 
following  high  estimate  of  the  character  of  Ed 
wards.  "  His  own  sentiments,"  meaning  those  of 
himself,  the  writer,  "  in  contemplating  the  life  and 
labors  of  President  Edwards,  are  those  of  pro 
found  and  affectionate  veneration;  so  much  so, 
that  he  knows  not,  that  he  has  ever  read  or  heard 
of  a  man,  of  whom  he  has  been  disposed  to  say, 
with  more  truth  and  ardor  than  of  Mr.  Edwards, 
*  I  would  wish  to  be  such  a  man.'  He  was  cer 
tainly  the  possessor  of  a  mighty  mind.  As  such, 
his  reputation  has  been  steadily  advancing  ever 
since  his  death ;  till  at  length  the  British  writers, 
notwithstanding  their  tardiness  in  duly  accrediting 
American  genius  and  talents,  have  classed  him 


184  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

among  the  great  masters  of  reasoning.  But  the 
highest  excellence  of  his  character  was,  that  his 
great  powers  of  mind  were  deeply  sanctified,  and 
unreservedly  consecrated  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  good  of  mankind.  He  was,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  writer,  one  of  the  most  holy,  humble,  and 
heavenly-minded  men,  that  the  world  has  seen 
since  the  Apostolic  age. 

"  His  learning  was  not  various.  Having  early 
devoted  himself  in  the  most  unreserved  manner  to 
the  service  of  God  in  the  Gospel  ministry,  his 
studies  always  had  a  reference,  either  direct  or 
collateral,  to  theology.  But,  thus  employed,  such 
a  mind  as  his  could  not  fail  to  acquire  science  and 
erudition,  to  a  considerable  extent;  while,  in  its 
favorite  pursuits,  eminence  of  the  first  distinction 
would  certainly  be  reached.  In  knowledge  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  and  in  every  thing  relating  to 
theology,  he  had  few  equals.  In  reasoning  on 
theological  subjects,  he  had,  in  the  day  in  which 
he  lived,  no  superior.  By  saying  this,  the  writer 
does  not  mean  to  subscribe  to  every  conclusion  in 
theology  at  which  this  great  man  arrived,  any 
more  than,  in  expressing  his  admiration  of  the 
powers  of  Mr.  Locke,  he  would  be  understood  to 
adopt  all  that  is  said  in  the  {  Essay  on  the  Human 
Understanding.'  Mr.  Edwards's  manner  or  style 
of  writing  has  no  claims  to  elegance.  His  lan 
guage  is  not  select  •  he  is  utterly  regardless  of  any 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  185 

thing  like  harmony  in  the  structure  of  his  periods ; 
and  he  takes  little  care  to  avoid  a  frequent  repeti 
tion  of  the  same  words  and  phrases.  His  whole 
attention  is  given  to  his  thoughts.  But,  in  con 
veying  these,  he  is  wonderfully  successful.  His 
meaning  is  clearly  communicated,  and  carefully 
guarded.  And,  in  his  practical  writings,  he  is  often 
both  powerful  and  pathetic. 

"  Is  not  such  a  writer,  all  other  considerations 
notwithstanding,  really  eloquent  ?  That  calm,  and 
close,  and  patient  thinking,  of  which  his  works 
give  such  abundant  proof,  seem  to  indicate  a  tem 
perament  not  easily  excited.  Yet  the  fact  was 
otherwise.  His  Resolutions  and  Diary  show,  that 
he  was  a  man  of  great  sensibility,  and  of  ardent 
affections.  When  those  whom  he  consulted  on 
the  propriety  of  his  accepting  the  presidency  of 
the  College,  unanimously  advised  his  acceptance, 
he  burst  into  tears  in  their  presence  ;  and  it  ap 
pears  that  he  frequently  retired  to  his  study,  to 
conceal  from  others  the  emotions  which  he  felt."  * 

The  Reverend  Erasmus  Middleton,  the  com 
piler  of  the  "  Evangelical  Biography,"  in  his 
sketch  of  Mr.  Edwards's  life,  expresses  himselt 
thus ;  "  We  are  now  to  speak  of  a  man  of  whom 
it  is  not  easy  to  speak  with  justice,  without  seem 
ing  to  border  on  adulation  !  The  strength  of  his 

*  Discourses  delivered  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey 
Notes,  pp.  317,  318. 


186  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

mind  overcame  what  are  usually  insuperable  diffi 
culties  in  the  way  of  the  generality.  Perhaps  his 
genius  acted  more  forcibly  from  not  being  fettered 
with  academical  clogs,  which  other  geniuses,  of  an 
elevated  rank,  could  never  endure.  I  need  only 
mention  Milton,  Dryden,  and  Swift,  in  confirma 
tion  of  such  an  opinion.  He  was  certainly  not 
in  the  highest  class  of  learned  men  ;  for  his  times, 
his  duties,  and  his  means  did  not  allow  of  such 
an  attainment ;  but  he  was  far  more  happily  em 
ployed,  both  for  himself  and  for  others ;  and  he 
has  given  such  proofs  of  a  mind  uncommonly  in 
vigorated  and  enlightened,  that  it  is  matter  of  joy 
it  was  not  engrossed  by  studies,  which  would  have 
only  rendered  him  the  admiration  of  a  few,  instead 
of  allowing  him  to  be  the  instructer  of  all.  He 
had,  in  short,  the  best  and  sublimest  sort  of  knowl 
edge,  without  being  too  much  encumbered  with 
what  was  unnecessary  to,  or  beneath,  his  calling."* 
Even  the  celebrated  Dr.  Priestley,  with  all  the 
decision  and  ardor  of  his  opposition  to  the  the 
ology  of  Edwards,  speaks  of  his  work  on  the 
Will,  in  the  following  strong  language  ;  "  If  any 
person  at  a  proper  time  of  life,  with  his  mind 
divested  of  vulgar  prejudice,  possessed  of  the  ne 
cessary  preparatory  knowledge,  and  likewise  of 
some  degree  of  fortitude,  which  is  certainly  neces 
sary  for  the  steady  contemplation  of  great  and 

*  Evangelical  Biography,  Vol.  IV. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  187 

interesting  subjects,  should  choose  to  inquire  seri 
ously  into  this  business,  (the  doctrine  of  necessity,) 
I  would  recommend  to  him,  besides  the  study  (for 
the  mere  perusal  is  saying  and  doing  nothing  al 
all)  of  Dr.  Hartley's  '  Observations  on  Man/ 
Mr.  Jonathan  Edwards's  Treatise  on  '  Free  Will.' 
This  writer  discusses  the  subject  with  great  clear 
ness  and  judgment,  obviating  every  shadow  of 
objection  to  it ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  his  work  is 
unanswerable."  * 

Dr.  Priestley,  indeed,  while  he  speaks  thus, 
strenuously  opposes  the  Calvinistic  conclusions 
which  Edwards  deduces  from  the  leading  doctrine 
of  his  book,  and  thinks  it  much  better  adapted  to 
sustain  those  of  the  Socinian  school.  This,  how 
ever,  might  have  been  expected  from  his  known 
bias  and  feelings  in  relation  to  the  whole  subject. 

Such  is  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which 
some  of  the  most  competent  and  impartial  judges 
speak  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir.  We  are  now 
prepared  to  take  a  general  survey  of  a  character, 
which  will  be  more  venerated  the  more  it  is 
studied,  and  which  has  been  seldom  equalled  in 
any  age  or  country. 

That  his  intellectual  powers  were  of  the  highest 
order,  as  before  said,  is  agreed  on  all  hands. 
Those  who  are  hostile  to  his  theological  opin 

*  Examination  of  Reid's  "  Inquiry  into  the  Human 
Mind,"  Preface. 


188  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHiT. 

ions,  as  well  as  those  who  concur  in  them,  are 
unanimous  in  awarding  to  him  this  honor.  Dr. 
Green  did  but  speak  the  language  of  all  compe 
tent  judges,  when  he  said,  as  quoted  in  the  fore 
going  extract,  "  He  had  a  mighty  mind."  In  com 
prehension  and  vigor  of  intellect,  in  acuteness  of 
perception,  in  the  power  of  close  attention,  and 
of  profound  and  thorough  abstraction,  and  in  the 
rare  talent  of  being  able  to  hold  a  subject  before 
his  mind,  until  it  was  patiently  and  fully  examined, 
he  had,  perhaps,  no  superior  in  any  age. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  is  said  to  have  modestly  re 
marked  concerning  himself,  that  if  he  excelled 
common  men  in  any  thing,  it  was  chiefly  in  the 
power  of  continuous,  patient  thought,  until  the 
subject  of  thought  was  thoroughly  explored.  It  is 
probable  that  Edwards,  had  he  been  interrogated 
concerning  himself,  would  have  been  disposed  to 
give  the  same  modest  account  of  his  own  mind. 
But  both  he,  and  the  illustrious  British  philoso 
pher,  deserved  a  higher  character.  He  possessed, 
in  an  eminent  degree,  not  only  the  power  of  pa 
tient  thought,  but  also  a  depth  of  penetration,  a 
clearness  of  perception,  and  a  compass  and  force 
of  mental  grasp,  which  have  seldom  been  ex 
ceeded. 

To  these  powers   were  added    those  of  a  re 
markably  solid  and  correct  judgment,  a  capacious 
and  retentive  memory,  and  an  imagination  which, 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  189 

though  it  never  aimed  to  dazzle  and  fascinate  by 
the  creation  of  splendid  pictures,  did  really  some 
times  form  pictures  of  the  most  skilful,  touching, 
and  beautiful  character.  The  example  of  this 
produced  by  Professor  Taylor,  in  a  preceding 
page,  is  very  striking ;  and  many  others,  no  less 
impressive,  are  to  be  found  in  various  parts  of  his 
writings,  both  in  those  of  his  youth,  and  those 
composed  in  more  advanced  age.  While  the  qual 
ities  of  sedateness  and  profundity  might  be  said 
preeminently  to  have  characterized  his  mind,  he 
was  by  no  means,  as  Taylor  observes,  a  mere 
'  dry  and  cold  thinker.'  He  was,  in  no  small  de 
gree,  imaginative,  and  capable  of  that  delightful 
exercise  of  fancy,  and  of  those  strongly  impulsive 
emotions,  which  are  seldom  found  united  with  a 
large  share  of  the  philosophic  temperament. 

But  while  this  extraordinary  man  rose  so  high 
in  the  scale  of  intellectual  greatness,  his  moral 
and  religious  elevation  was  still  more  remarka 
ble.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  annals  of 
Christian  character,  since  the  days  of  apostolic 
devotion,  have  presented  an  example  of  more  in 
telligent,  fervent,  governing  piety,  than  that  which 
appeared  to  reign  in  the  heart,  and  to  guide  the 
life,  of  this  excellent  man.  In  all  the  records  of 
his  religious  views  and  exercises  which  he  left, 
there  is  manifest  a  degree  of  sincerity  and  child 
like  simplicity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  that  heav- 


190  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

enly  ardor  of  affection,  and  that  honest  yielding 
ol  the  whole  heart  and  life  to  the  inflaence  of 
sanctified  principle,  which  marked  a  man  supreme 
ly  in  earnest  in  what  he  professed  to  feel. 

His  recorded  Resolutions  and  his  Diary,  taken 
in  connexion  with  the  known  temper  and  habits 
of  his  life,  exhibit  such  entire  consecration  to  the 
will  and  glory  of  God  ;  such  deep  humility  and 
meekness ;  such  humble,  tender,  and  habitual  re 
liance  on  the  righteousness  and  strength  of  the 
Redeemer ;  such  an  affectionate  sense  of  depend 
ence  on  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  such  abound 
ing  and  delight  in  prayer,  and  in  all  the  duties  of 
the  closet ;  such  peculiar  vigilance  and  candor  of 
self-examination ;  and  such  evidence  of  a  fixed, 
undeviating  resolution  to  do  what  he  thought  right, 
whatever  self-denial  or  sacrifice  it  might  cost  him, 
— as  marked  a  strength  of  holy  principle,  an  ha 
bitual  elevation  of  sentiment  and  affection,  and 
an  unreservedness  of  consecration  to  God,  truly 
rare  even  among  eminently  pious  men.  We  some 
times  witness  a  fervor  of  devotion  almost  raptur 
ous,  which  does  not  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  the 
nabitual  temper  and  life.  This  was  not  the  case 
with  Edwards.  There  was  in  the  daily  habit  of 
his  mind,  and  of  his  conduct,  a  degree  of  sacred 
conformity  to  what  he  deemed  truth  and  duty, 
even  in  the  face  of  opposition,  that  to  most  men 
would  have  been  appalling,  which  may,  without 


JONATHAN      EDWARDS.  191 

impropriety,  be  styled  the   majesty  of  Christian 
integrity  and  of  Christian  conscientiousness. 

The  tendency  of  elevated  piety  to  enlarge,  as 
well  as  to  purify  the  mind,  has  been  often  and 
justly  maintained.  When  intellectual  and  moral 
excellence  are  united,  they  mutually  strengthen, 
balance,  and  adorn  each  other.  This  interesting 
fact,  it  is  believed,  was  remarkably  exemplified  in 
the  history  of  President  Edwards.  His  peculiar 
piety  evidently  shed  on  his  whole  character,  and 
on  all  his  powers,  a  grandeur  of  glory,  the  influ 
ence  of  which  will  last  as  long  as  his  memory. 
"His  fervent  piety  early  and  constantly  directed 
his  powers  to  objects  above  all  others  suited  to  ex 
pand  and  exalt  them.  It  summoned  him,  by  the 
strongest  motives,  to  diligence  in  the  improvement 
of  time,  and  of  advantages  for  intellectual  culture. 
It  purified  his  mental  vision  from  the  corruptions 
of  prejudice,  and  the  bias  of  unholy  inclinations 
and  passions.  And  it  gave  him  a  peace  of  mind, 
which  left  his  powers  undiverted  and  unoppressed 
by  the  common  anxieties  of  mankind."  *  It  was, 
in  a  word,  the  habitual  employment  of  his  great 
powers  on  objects  worthy  of  his  rational  and  im 
mortal  nature,  and  adapted  to  promote  the  tempo 
ral  and  eternal  welfare  of  his  fellow-men,  which 
at  once  augmented  his  diligence,  elevated  his 

*  Christian  Spectator,  New  Series,  Vol.  V.  p.  357. 


192  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

affections,  nourished  a  sublime  disinterestedness 
girded  him  with  a  strength,  patience,  and  persever 
ance  almost  superhuman,  in  the  midst  of  pressing 
difficulties,  and  prepared  him  for  some  of  the 
greatest  services  by  which  it  is  given  to  man  to 
benefit  the  church  and  the  world. 

It  was  this  union  of  great  talents  with  eminent 
piety,  that  rendered  this  excellent  man  so  wise  and 
safe  a  counsellor  in  all  cases  of  doubt  and  difficul 
ty.  Perhaps  there  was  no  man  in  the  country, 
whose  advice  was  more  frequently  solicited,  or 
more  highly  prized  than  his.  And,  if  we  may 
judge  by  the  specimens  which  remain  of  the  way 
in  which  he  fulfilled  this  duty,  he  seldom  failed 
to  discharge  it  in  an  able  and  edifying  manner. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  known  fervor  of  his  piety 
was  such  as  to  give  his  judgment  great  weight 
with  the  friends  of  vital  religion  ;  and,  on  the  oth 
er,  such  was  the  public  confidence  in  his  experi 
ence,  discernment,  and  practical  wisdom,  that  he 
was  enabled  with  success  to  oppose  enthusiasm 
and  fanaticism  whenever  they  appeared,  and  thus 
10  render  the  most  important  service  to  the  inter 
ests  of  religion,  in  a  day  when  such  service  was 
peculiarly  needed. 

To  this  important  service  rendered  to  the  churcl 
n  his  day,  the  venerable  President  Green  referred, 
when,  in  treating  on  the  importance  of  the  union 
of  piety  and  science,  he  alluded  to  his  excellent 
predecessor  in  office,  in  the  following  terms 


JONATHAN      EDWARDS.  193 

"  Of  these  attainments  our  own  Dickinson  and 
Edwards  were  illustrious  examples.  Among  the 
very  first  men  of  their  time  in  this  country,  for  in 
tellectual  strength  and  furniture,  they  were  still 
more  distinguished  for  piety  than  for  learning.  In 
their  day  enthusiasm  appeared  in  the  church  to 
which  they  belonged.  Few  other  men  could  gain 
an  audience  of  the  deluded  ;  but  these  men  ob 
tained  it,  because  the  reality  and  eminence  of  their 
piety  were  questioned  by  none.  They  spoke  and 
wrote  so  as  happily  to  correct  the  spreading  evil, 
and  the  good  which  they  effected  was  great  and 
lasting."  * 

The  record  of  these  services  forms  a  very  im 
portant  chapter  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Edwards's  thirst  for  knowledge  was  pe 
culiar  and  insatiable.  Though  placed,  through 
out  the  whole  of  his  college  course,  in  circumstan 
ces  extremely  unfavorable  to  literary  improve 
ment  ;  and  though  situated,  during  the  greater  part 
of  his  professional  life,  in  a  retired  and  compara 
tively  obscure  country  town,  remote  from  large 
libraries,  of  which,  indeed,  the  American  colonies 
then  contained  few  of  even  tolerable  size ;  yet, 
such  was  nis  love  of  knowledge  and  his  indefatiga- 

*  Discourses  delivered  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 

DD.  13,  14. 
I.— 13 


194  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ble  diligence,  that  he  far  outstripped  most  of  his 
clerical  brethren  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  in 
solid  learning.  His  learning,  indeed,  was  not 
either  so  extensive  or  so  various  as  that  of  some 
of  his  contemporaries ;  but  in  all  the  branches  of 
knowledge  which  he  studied  in  his  collegial  course, 
he  was  a  more  than  ordinary  proficient.  In  Hebrew 
literature,  as  well  as  in  Latin  and  Greek,  he  was 
unusually  accomplished ;  and  in  metaphysical, 
moral,  and  theological  science,  he  had  probably 
read  and  thought  more  profoundly  than  any  othei 
American  divine. 

And  although  mathematical  science  might  not 
be  supposed  to  be  one  of  those,  which  lie  very 
much  in  the  way  of  a  man,  who  was  zealously  de 
voted  to  the  labors  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  yet  so 
great  was  his  love  of  all  knowledge  that  could 
possibly  be  turned  to  a  useful  account,  and  so  just 
his  estimate  of  the  tendency  of  this  branch  of  sci 
ence  to  discipline  and  improve  all  the  intellectual 
powers,  that  we  are  told  he  continued  to  retain 
and  extend  his  knowledge  of  mathematics,  and  of 
several  auxiliary  departments  of  study,  to  the  end 
of  life. 

But  his  devotion  to  growth  in  knowledge  was 
not  bounded  by  these  early  and  general  efforts  to 
improve  his  mind.  For  many  years,  when  at 
home,  and  in  his  usual  health,  he  spent  more  than 
half  of  every  twenty-four  hours  in  his  study.  He 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  195 

devoured  with  eagerness  every  important  book,  re 
lating  to  his  favorite  branches  of  study,  which  he 
could  procure  from  any  quarter.  He  constantly 
made  his  correspondence  with  learned  friends, 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  subservient  to  this 
pursuit.  And  even  in  those  letters  which  he 
wrote  to  his  friends  in  Scotland,  during  the  pen 
dency  of  what  might  be  supposed  to  be  his  ab 
sorbing  troubles,  both  in  Northampton  and  Stock 
bridge,  his  desire  to  obtain  information  of  all  new 
or  useful  books,  and  of  every  thing  relating  to  the 
state  and  prospects  of  the  Christian  church,  was 
manifested  in  a  very  striking  manner.  As  the 
pagan  conqueror  of  old  "  thought  nothing  done, 
while  any  thing  remained  to  be  done,"  so  this 
illustrious  devotee  to  knowledge  and  to  duty 
appeared  to  think  that  he  knew  nothing,  as  long 
as  any  thing  remained  to  be  known,  and  within  the 
reach  of  human  industry. 

His  character  as  a  preacher  was  very  high,  but 
altogether  peculiar.  In  solidity,  instructiveness, 
and  solemnity  in  the  pulpit,  it  is  probable  no 
occupant  of  that  sacred  place  ever  excelled  him. 
His  voice,  indeed,  was  feeble  ;  he  made  very  little 
use  of  gesture ;  and  of  the  refinements  of  rhetoric 
in  composition,  and  of  the  graces  of  oratory  in  de 
livery,  he  was  in  a  great  measure  destitute.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  all  this,  he  was  an  eminently 
popular  preacher.  His  services,  in  this  character; 


196  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

were  eagerHy  sought  after  far  and  near;  and 
wherever  he  went,  the  impression  which  he  made 
was  great,  and  sometimes  wonderful. 

Cases  are  recorded  in  which  sermons  of  two 
hours  in  length  were  listened  to  with  a  solem 
nity,  and  followed  by  an  impression,  of  the  most 
extraordinary  kind.  Though  in  the  graces  and 
power  of  a  most  wonderful  delivery,  he  could  not 
be  compared  with  his  contemporary  and  friend, 
Mr.  Whitefield ;  yet  occasions  not  unfrequently 
occurred  in  which  the  point,  the  weight,  and  the 
awful  solemnity  of  his  discourses,  left  an  impres 
sion  on  large  assemblies  quite  as  strong,  and  quite 
as  permanent,  as  most  of  the  sermons  of  that  most 
extraordinary  man. 

The  truth  is,  Mr.  Edwards  might  be  called, 
without  any  abuse  of  terms,  an  eloquent  preacher. 
That  public  speaker  may,  undoubtedly,  be  said  to 
be  eloquent,  who  habitually  makes  a  deep  impres 
sion  on  a  popular  assembly.  It  is  vain  to  oppose 
theory  to  facts.  The  most  impressive  speaker  is 
ever  the  most  eloquent. 

If  it  should  be  asked,  then,  Was  Edwards  an 
eloquent  preacher?  we  answer,  if  by  eloquence 
be  meant  the  power  of  gratifying  the  taste,  and 
pleasing  the  imagination,  and  moving  the  natural 
affections  of  an  audience,  and  by  these  means 
exciting  the  highest  admiration  of  the  speaker, 
probably  no  man  had  ever  less  of  eloquence,  who 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  197 

had  at  the  same  time  so  great  a  power  over  the 
minds  of  his  hearers.  But,  if  eloquence  is  to  be 
understood  in  its  appropriate  signification,  as  the 
art  or  power  of  persuading ;  if  it  is  to  be  meas 
ured  by  its  effects  on  the  understanding,  the  con 
science,  and  the  will,  or  by  the  arguments  and 
motives  it  addresses  to  men,  as  rational  and  moral 
agents,  we  certainly  do  not  know  the  preacher 
who  has  a  juster  title  to  the  appellation.  Not 
withstanding  his  manner  of  delivery,  like  that  ol 
his  writing,  was  plain,  and  he  stood  almost  mo 
tionless  in  the  pulpit,  and  rarely  raised  his  eyes 
from  his  notes,  and  did  not  affect  the  modulations 
of  voice  which  aim  at  emotion,  yet  would  he  fix 
the  eyes  and  attention  of  his  audience  by  the 
weight  of  his  matter,  and  the  deep  solemnity  and 
earnestness  of  his  manner,  for  an  hour  together, 
while  his  words  pierced  the  soul,  and  left  impres 
sions  which  were  not  soon  effaced,  and  which  were 
often  followed  by  the  most  salutary  consequences. 
When  he  was  invited  to  preach  at  Enfield,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  were  in  such  a  state  of 
religious  indifference,  that,  in  the  language  of  the 
historian  of  Connecticut,  "  when  they  (the  neigh 
boring  clergymen)  went  to  the  meeting-house,  the 
appearance  of  the  assembly  was  thoughtless  and 
vain.  The  people  hardly  conducted  themselves 
with  common  decency.  When  Mr.  Edwards 
preached,  before  the  sermon  was  ended,  the 


198  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

assembly  seemed  deeply  impressed  and  bowed 
down  with  an  awful  conviction  of  their  sin  and 
danger.  There  was  such  a  breathing  of  distress 
and  weeping,  that  the  preacher  was  obliged  to 
speak  to  the  people  and  desire  silence,  that  he 
might  be  heard."  * 

The  incessant,  persevering  diligence  of  Mr. 
Edwards  was  another  feature  in  his  character, 
worthy  of  notice  and  commemoration.  Though 
endowed  with  incomparably  more  talent  than  most 
men,  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  rely  on  talents 
alone  for  securing  their  great  end.  His  whole  life 
seems  to  have  been  one  continued  scene  of  inde 
fatigable  effort  to  make  progress  in  every  species 
of  improvement,  intellectual,  literary,  and  moral, 
that  might  qualify  him  more  perfectly  to  answer 
the  great  end  of  his  being.  His  application  to  the 
great  duties  of  his  office,  and  especially  to  those 
of  his  study,  was  incessant  and  wonderful.  He 
considered  the  price  of  his  time  as  "  above  ru 
bies  "  ;  and  the  methods,  which  he  employed  to 
guard  against  the  waste  of  a  moment,  are  worthy 
of  imitation. 

Besides  all  the  hours  which  he  ordinarily  spent 
in  his  study,  he  made  all  his  rides  or  walks  for 
exercise,  as  related  in  a  preceding  chapter,  tribu 
tary  to  his  studious  habits.  He  took  his  pen,  ink, 

*  Christian  Spectator,  Old  Series,  Vol.  III.,  p.  313.  — 
TrumbulPs  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  145. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  199 

and  paper  always  with  him,  and  in  the  shady 
grove  in  which  he  alighted  or  walked,  he  com 
mitted  to  writing,  perhaps,  some  of  his  most  inter 
esting  trains  of  thought.  He  frequently  arose  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  to  record  something  which 
had  occurred  to  his  mind,  and  which  he  feared  he 
might  lose  if  it  were  not  then  secured.  And  in 
all  his  journeys,  whether  taken  for  relaxation  or 
on  business,  he  was  continually  endeavoring  to 
gather  up  the  means  of  improvement  or  of  useful 
ness,  with  as  much  greediness  as  that  with  which 
the  miser  gathers  up  gold.  In  short,  his  aim 
seems  to  have  been  never  to  be  for  a  moment 
idle,  and  never  to  allow  himself  to  be  occupied 
about  matters  not  likely  to  turn  to  some  useful 
account  in  advancing  those  great  interests  for  which 
alone  he  considered  it  as  desirable  to  live.  One 
is  ready  to  wonder  how  a  person  with  so  feeble 
and  delicate  a  frame  as  his,  could  endure  such  in 
cessant  and  long-continued  sedentary  labor,  and 
accomplish  such  an  amount  of  writing,  amidst  all 
those  perplexing  anxieties  and  trials,  which  would 
have  disqualified  most  men  for  any  connected  in 
tellectual  exercise  whatever. 

The  habits  of  Edwards,  in  this  respect,  may  be 
strikingly  compared  with  those  of  the  venerable 
Calvin.  They  began  to  publish  about  the  same 
time  of  life,  and  they  died  almost  precisely  at  the 
same  age.  The  following  picture  of  the  labors 


200  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

ci*  the  latter  is  drawn  by  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
in  a  work  dedicated  to  Archbishop  Usher,  his 
friend  and  patron.  After  remarking,  that  of  "that 
great  instrument  of  God's  glory,  John  Calvin,  he 
had  almost  said,  as  once  it  was  of  Moses,  that 
there  arose  not  a  prophet  since  like  him  in  Israel, 
nor  since  the  Apostles'  days  was  before  him,"  he 
adds; 

"What  shall  I  speak  of  his  indefatigable  in 
dustry,  almost  beyond  the  power  of  nature,  which, 
paralleled  with  our  loitering,  will,  I  fear,  exceed 
all  credit  ?  It  may  be  the  truest  object  of  admira 
tion,  how  one  lean,  worn,  spent,  and  wearied  body 
could  hold  out.  He  read  every  week  of  the  year 
through  three  divinity  lectures.  Every  other  week, 
over  and  above,  he  preached  every  day,  so  that 
(as  Erasmus  said  of  Chrysostom)  I  know  not 
whether  more  to  admire  his  constancy,  or  theirs 
that  heard  him.  Some  have  reckoned  his  yearly 
lectures  to  be  one  hundred  and  eighty-six,  and  his 
yearly  sermons  to  be  two  hundred  and  eighty-six. 
Every  Thursday  he  sat  in  the  presbytery.  Every 
Friday,  when  the  ministers  met  to  confer  upon  dif 
ficult  texts,  he  made  as  good  as  a  lecture.  Besides 
all  this,  there  was  scarce  a  day  that  exercised  him 
not  in  answering,  either  by  word  of  mouth,  or  wri 
ting,  the  doubts  and  questions  of  different  churches 
tnd  pastors ;  yea,  sometimes,  more  at  once ;  so 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  201 

that  he  might  say,  with  Paul,  the  care  of  all  the 
churches  lieth  upon  me.  And  not  a  year  passed, 
wherein,  over  and  above  all  these  former  employ 
ments,  some  great  volume  in  folio  or  other  came 
not  forth."  * 

It  may  be  asked,  how  did  men  so  peculiarly  frail 
and  feeble  endure  and  accomplish  so  much  ?  How 
did  such  men  as  Calvin,  and  Baxter,  and  Ed 
wards,  who  would  scarcely  have  been  thought  to 
have  bodily  strength  enough  to  bear  them  out  in 
writing  a  single  volume,  contrive  to  write  more 
almost  than  some  literary  men  can  find  time  to 
read  ?  It  is  well  known  of  all  three  of  these  illus 
trious  men,  that  they  were  as  remarkable,  not 
merely  for  their  temperance,  but  for  their  peculiar 
habits  of  abstinence,  as  they  were  for  their  indus 
try.  But,  no.  doubt,  one  great  reason,  under  Godj 
why  they  were  borne  above  their  exhausting  habits 
of  study,  is  to  be  sought  in  a  different  considera 
tion.  Why  is  it  that  some  great  military  com 
manders,  brought  up  in  luxury,  and  accustomed 
all  their  lives  to  self-indulgence,  have  been  found 
capable,  in  seasons  of  great  danger  and  exposure, 
of  bearing  more  exhausting  toil  than  the  most 
hardy  private  soldier  under  their  command  ?  The 
reason  is,  undoubtedly,  to  be  found  in  the  fact, 
that  the  commander  has  more  mind  and  more 

*  Mi-ddleton's  Biographia  Evangelica,  Vol.  II.  p  57. 


202  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

numerous  intellectual  and  moral  stimulants  applied 
to  that  mind,  than  has  the  private  soldier.  His 
intelligence,  courage,  zeal,  and  ambition  bear  him 
onward  in  efforts  and  sufferings,  under  which  an 
other,  destitute  of  the  same  excitements,  would 
sink. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  men  of  the  char 
acter  just  mentioned,  in  the  great  field  of  moral 
and  spiritual  action.  If  Calvin,  Baxter,  or  Ed 
wards  had  possessed  less  elevated  piety ;  less  ardor 
of  zeal ;  less  comprehension  of  mental  vision,  to 
discern  the  importance  of  the  subjects  on  which 
they  wrote  ;  less  moral  courage  ;  less  holy  confi 
dence  in  the  principles  which  they  espoused  ;  less 
absorbing  interest  in  the  great  matters  in  which 
they  labored,  their  strength  would  sooner  have 
given  way,  and  their  productions  would  have  been 
far  inferior,  in  quantity  as  well  as  in  quality,  to 
those  with  which  the  Master  blessed  his  church 
by  their  instrumentality. 

With  all  the  meekness  and  benevolence  of 
President  Edwards,  he  was  more  than  once  in 
volved  in  controversy ;  and  hence  several  of  his 
most  important  works  are  controversial  in  their 
character.  Tn  his  polemical  labors,  he  appears  to 
quite  as  much  advantage  as  in  his  didactic ;  or 
rather  his  peculiar  powers  as  a  reasoner  shine  with 
a  brighter  lustre  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter. 
His  spirit  as  a  controvertist  was  unusually  exem- 


JONATHAN      EDWARDS.  203 

plary.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a  more  candid 
or  fair  disputant,  or  one  whose  governing  aim  more 
habitually  was,  not  victory,  but  simply  the  dis 
covery  and  establishment  of  truth.  Hence,  while 
he  treats  his  adversaries  not  only  with  decorum, 
but  with  much  of  the  Christian  spirit,  he  demol 
ishes  their  strongest  fortifications,  and  hunts  them 
out  of  all  their  retreats  and  fastnesses,  with  a  skill 
and  a  force  scarcely  ever  exceeded  ;  anticipates 
objections  more  numerous  and  more  plausible  than 
even  his  opponents  themselves  imagined  ;  demon 
strates  the  truth,  by  showing  the  inconsistency  and 
absurdity  of  the  opposite  error,  and  brings  a  va 
riety  of  trains  of  argument  to  bear  on  the  same 
point  with  combined  and  overwhelming  power ; 
and  all  this  with  a  gravity,  a  seriousness,  and  an 
evident  abhorrence  of  sophistry  or  evasion,  which 
make  as  deep  an  impression  as  his  arguments. 

It  has  been  alleged  by  some,  that  in  his  single 
controversy  with  Mr.  Williams,  respecting  "Quali 
fications  for  Communion,"  he  is  sometimes  un 
necessarily  severe.  But,  probably,  few  impartial 
judges  will  be  of  this  opinion.  If  he  fastens  ab- 
lurdity  on  his  adversary,  could  he  fairly  avoid  it  ? 
The  annals  of  controversy,  it  is  believed,  fur- 
OLsh  few  examples  of  a  disputant  more  free  from 
personality  or  irascible  temper,  who  more  uni 
formly  manifests  the  sincerity  and  the  force  of 


204  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY  . 

honest  conviction,  or  who  more  fairly  meets  and 
refutes  the  strongest  arguments  of  his  adversaries. 

The  domestic  character  of  Edwards  was  emi 
nently  amiable  and  exemplary.  In  the  relations 
of  husband,  father,  and  the  authoritative  heaJ 
of  a  family,  his  habits  were  all  highly  ornamental 
to  the  Christian  profession.  As  he  was  singular])' 
happy,  as  before  stated,  in  the  conjugal  relation, 
being  blessed  with  a  companion  whose  intelligence, 
piety,  prudence,  and  affectionate  attention  to  his 
comfort,  and  to  all  the  affairs  of  her  household, 
peculiarly  fitted  her  to  promote  his  happiness ;  so 
his  treatment  of  her  was  uniformly  respectful  and 
affectionate.  It  was  his  constant  practice  to  prav 
with  her  in  his  study  at  least  once  every  day. 

Nor  was  his  attention  to  his  children  less  vigi 
lant  or  affectionate.  It  was  his  habit  when  at 
home,  every  evening,  after  tea,  to  sit  an  hour  with 
his  family  in  pleasant  conversation,  entering  with 
interest  into  the  feelings  and  concerns  of  his  chil 
dren,  and  striving  to  render  his  intercourse  with 
them  at  once  gratifying  and  instructive.  In  this 
conversation  the  great  subject  of  religion  nevei 
failed,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  occupy  a 
place.  And,  although  he  was  accustomed  to  leave 
the  entire  management  of  all  his  temporal  con 
cerns  to  his  wife,  who  was  admirably  fitted  to  con 
duct  them  in  the  wisest  and  happiest  manner,  yet; 
in  the  government  and  discipline  of  their  children 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  205 

ne  did  not,  as  many  studious  men  have  too  often 
done,  leave  his  wife  to  toil  and  struggle  alone  ;  but, 
when  attention  to  this  subject  became  necessary, 
he  entered  into  it  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  tender, 
sympathizing  husband  and  an  anxious  father; 
manifesting  a  readiness  to  share  the  burden,  and 
a  desire  to  discharge  the  duty,  of  a  faithful  parent. 
And  it  is  a  pleasing  comment  on  this  fact,  to  state, 
that  almost  all  his  children  manifested  the  fruit 
of  his  pious  fidelity  by  consecrating  themselves 
in  heart  and  life  to  the  God  of  their  father. 

One  signal  and  mournful  exception,  in  the  case 
of  his  youngest  son,  is  well  known,  and  will  prob 
ably  occur  to  most  of  the  readers  of  these  pages. 
He  was  deprived  of  both  his  parents  at  the  age 
of  eight  years,  and,  of  course,  knew  nothing  ot 
either  their  example  or  instruction  when  he  stood 
most  in  need  of  both.  Though  high  in  talent, 
and  honorable  in  office,  he  never  walked  in  the 
ways  of  his  venerable  father. 

The  conduct  of  President  Edwards  with  respect 
to  his  temporal  affairs  was  worthy  of  his  ele 
vated  character.  It  has  been  already  more  than 
once  stated,  that  every  thing  pertaining  to  the 
secular  concerns  of  his  family  was  committed  en 
tirely  to  Mrs.  Edwards.  And  although  his  pecu 
niary  circumstances  were  always  narrow,  yet,  by 
her  pmdence,  economy,  and  singular  skill  in  man 
agement,  the  family  was  made  comfortable,  and 


206  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 

the  children  were  educated  in  a  manner  becoming 
their  station  in  life.  Mr.  Edwards  was  so  unre 
servedly  devoted  to  his  pastoral  labors  and  to  his 
beloved  studies,  that  he  knew  scarcely  any  thing 
respecting  the  revenues  or  the  expenditures  of  his 
household.  Nay,  in  regard  to  some  portions  oi 
his  property  and  circumstances,  many  of  his  pa 
rishioners  and  friends  were  much  better  informed 
than  himself. 

It  is  not  intended  to  recommend  this  entire  ab 
straction  from  domestic  provisions  and  cares  to 
every  minister  of  the  Gospel.  In  many  cases,  it 
would  inevitably  lead  to  the  grossest  disorder,  in 
justice,  and  bankruptcy.  But  it  is  intended  to 
recommend  the  general  spirit  of  this  great  and 
good  man,  in  regard  to  worldly  affairs,  to  every 
incumbent  of  the  sacred  office.  The  spirit  of 
worldly  acquisition,  whether  directed  to  petty  gains, 
or  to  large  and  grasping  accumulation,  has  been 
fatal  to  the  character  and  usefulness  of  thousands 
of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  every  age,  and  is,  in 
its  own  nature,  adapted  to  destroy  their  influence, 
in  all  cases,  as  ministers  of  religion. 

Will  the  mass  of  mankind  really  believe  an  am 
bassador  of  Christ  to  be  in  earnest,  who,  while  he 
exhorts  them  to  live  above  the  world ;  to  "  look, 
not  at  the  things  which  are  seen  and  temporal,  but 
at  the  things  which  are  not  seen  and  eternal ; "  in 
a  word,  to  have  their  treasure  and  their  hearts  in 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  207 

Heaven,  and  to  be  daily  ascending  thither  in  holy 
contemplation  and  spiritual  desires,  —  at  the  same 
time  sets  a  striking  example  in  his  own  person  ot 
an  inordinate  disposition  to  gather  and  to  lay  up 
treasures  upon  earth  ?  In  fact,  if  a  minister  can 
possibly  avoid  even  the  ordinary  and  justifiable  de 
gree  of  attention  to  his  worldly  affairs  ;  if  he  can, 
by  any  means,  without  suffering,  or  doing  wrong 
keep  himself  entirely  aloof  from  secular  matters, 
he  will  be  more  likely  to  make  a  salutary  impres 
sion,  and  to  add  force  to  all  his  professional  labors 

In  every  age  of  the  church,  the  most  useful 
ministers  have  been  poor.  To  say  nothing  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  who,  while  he  strongly  and  stead 
fastly  maintained,  that  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
were  entitled  to  a  comfortable  support,  declined, 
in  some  cases,  to  receive  one  himself,  but  "  labor 
ed,  working  with  his  own  hands,  that  he  might  not 
be  chargeable  "  to  those  to  whom  he  ministered ; 
—  to  say  nothing  of  this,  as  resting  upon  an  ex 
traordinary  principle,  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  by 
far  the  greater  number  of  those  ministers,  who 
have  been  most  distinguished  for  their  servi 
ces  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  of  piety,  have 
voluntarily  submitted  to  poverty.  Augustine, 
probably  the  most  eminently  useful  man  that 
lived,  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  to  the  days 
of  Luther,  with  abundant  opportunities  of  gaining 
wealth,  preferred  poverty.  Luther  himself,  and 


208  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Melancthon,  and  Calvin  were  all  destitute  of 
property,  and  willingly  so,  and  lived,  from  year 
to  year,  upon  the  scantiest  stipend.* 

It  seems  to  be  an  important  part  of  the  purpose 
of  God,  concerning  such  men,  that  they  should 
be  divested  of  all  worldly  anxieties  and  cares,  and 
that  their  undivided  attention  should  be  given  to 
their  "  work  of  faith,  and  labor  of  love."  Ed 
wards  manifested  his  wisdom  in  standing  aloof 
from  every  thing  like  worldly  gain,  and  even  from 
worldly  care.  The  spirit  of  it  seemed  to  be  dead 
in  him.  The  consequence  was,  that  he  enjoyed 
religion  far  more  than  he  could  otherwise  have 
done ;  that  his  mind  was  in  a  more  favorable  state 
for  examining  and  embodying  truth  ;  that  his 
writings  were  more  numerous,  and  rich  in  their 
character ;  and  that  he  was  incomparably  more 
useful  to  his  generation  than  he  could  have  been, 
had  be  been  characterized  even  by  the  ordinary 
amount  of  the  worldly  spirit.  Happy  would  it  be 
for  the  church,  and  for  themselves,  if  the  ministers 
of  religion,  at  all  times,  bore  a  nearer  resemblance 
to  Edwards,  in  this  as  well  as  in  other  respects. 
The  desire  of  money-making  is  disgraceful  to  their 

*  Luther,  on  one  occasion,  when  he  thought  himself 
about  to  die,  solemnly  thanked  God  that  he  had  always 
kept  him  poor,  and  had  given  him  nothing  to  bequeath  to 
his  family.  Nor  did  Calvin  appear  to  be  at  all  less  in 
different  to  wealth. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  209 

character,  and  has  been  found,  in  all  ages5  most 
injurious  to  the  interests  of  religion.  No  matter 
how  learned,  how  eloquent,  how  active  a  clergy 
man  may  be,  if  he  be  infected  with  the  spirit  of 
sordid  gam,  it  will  be  "like  dead  flies  in  the 
apothecary's  ointment,"  offensive  and  ruinous  to 
his  whole  influence. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  however,  that,  narrow 
as  were  the  pecuniary  circumstances  of  this  dis 
tinguished  man,  he  always  found  something  to  give 
to  the  cause  of  religion,  and  to  his  suffering  fellow 
men.  But  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  he  did 
this  without  ostentation,  and  often  with  studied 
concealment.  Some  of  the  most  remarkable  ex 
amples  of  his  beneficence  came  to  light  after  his 
death. 

The  social  character  of  Mr.  Edwards  was 
exemplary  and  amiable.  His  manners  and  habits, 
indeed,  were  not  of  that  polished  and  easy  sort, 
which  naturally  results  from  spending  much  time 
in  social  circles.  He  seldom  visited  his  people, 
unless  they  were  sick  or  otherwise  afflicted,  or,  for 
some  peculiar  reason,  desired  his  presence.  His 
devotion  to  study  was  wholly  inconsistent  with  the 
employment  of  much  time  in  indiscriminate  visits. 
These  haoits  cannot  be  recommended  to  pastors  in 
general ;  but  u  is  difficult  to  see  how  he  coald 
have  accomplished  the  great  objects  for  which  he 

I.— 14 


210  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

was  so  peculiarly  fitted,  had  he  taken  any  other 
course . 

In  mixed  society,  and  especially  with  those  with 
whom  he  was  imperfectly  acquainted,  he  was  re 
served,  and  appeared  rather  distant.  But  with  his 
intimate  friends  he  was  free,  cheerful,  and  pleasant. 
To  that  flow  of  animal  spirits,  which  is  the  parent 
of  vivacity,  he  was  in  a  great  measure  a  stranger. 
His  habitual  appearance  in  company  was  that  of 
the  grave,  contemplative,  heavenly-minded  man, 
gentle,  retiring,  dignified,  and  of  few  words,  unless 
drawn  out  by  inquiries,  which  opened  a  door  for 
instruction,  of  which  he  was  ever  ready  to  avail 
himself.  He  never  appeared  so  well  as  when  he 
had  an  opportunity  of  enlightening  the  ignorant, 
or  counselling  inquirers  on  the  most  important  of 
all  subjects. 

There  was  one  striking  trait  in  the  character  of 
Mr.  Edwards,  which,  as  it  rendered  him  less  fond 
of  mixed  companies,  so  it  made  him  more  re 
served  and  silent,  and  often,  of  course,  less  inter 
esting,  when  he  happened  to  be  thrown  into  them. 
This  was  his  sacred  regard  to  the  government  of 
the  tongue,  and  his  deep  impression  of  the  multi 
plied  and  endless  evils  flowing  from  vain  and  un 
bridled  conversation.  He  had  discernment  enough 
from  his  youth,  to  perceive,  that  those  who  joined 
freely  in  conversation  in  mixed  companies,  in 
which  the  characters  of  the  absent  were  frequently 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  211 

discussed,  and  principles  and  subjects  of  great  deli 
cacy  hastily  pronounced  upon,  must  often  be  in 
volved  in  circumstances  of  strong  temptation,  if 
not  of  serious  embarrassment.  He  had  the  wis 
dom,  too,  to  feel,  as  he  advanced  in  life,  that  men 
in  public  stations,  especially  in  the  sacred  profes 
sion,  were  often  most  painfully  implicated  by  a 
single  unguarded  word  uttered  in  a  social  circle 
Hence,  in  this  respect,  he  was  peculiarly  cautious 
Perhaps  no  man  ever  more  sacredly  governed  his 
tongue  by  the  laws  of  Christian  prudence  and  be 
nevolence.  His  aim  was,  never  to  speak  evil  of 
another,  but  upon  the  most  obvious  and  undoubted 
call  of  duty ;  and  never  to  listen  to  any  thing  of 
the  kind  from  others,  if  he  could  possibly  avoid  it. 
He  was,  therefore,  "slow  to  speak";  and,  when 
he  did  speak,  his  "  words  were  few  and  well 
ordered." 

These  habits  were  of  incalculable  benefit  to 
him  in  all  his  social  intercourse.  He  was,  of 
course,  seldom  involved  in  litigation ;  was  seldom 
called  to  the  trouble  of  defending  or  explaining 
what  he  had  spoken  ;  and  seldom  had  the  morti 
fication  of  finding  that  he  had  wounded  feelings, 
or  injured  character,  by  unguarded  conversation. 
The  importance  of  these  things  is  acknowledged 
by  all ;  but  is  seldom  felt,  and  really  made  a  rule 
of  life,  but  by  the  eminently  wise. 

Such  is  the  character  left  by  Jonathan  Ed 
wards  to  the  church  and  the  world.  Some 


212  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

distinguished  men  have  been  so  unhappy  as  to  waste 
the  first  years  of  their  lives  in  folly  and  profligacy, 
and  to  devote  only  the  latter  half  of  their  course, 
and  sometimes  even  less  than  half,  to  the  cause  of 
truth  and  righteousness.  This  was  the  case,  as  is 
well  known,  with  Cyprian,  one  of  the  early  fathers 
of  the  church ;  with  the  celebrated  Augustine ; 
and,  in  later  times,  with  the  excellent  John  New 
ton,  one  of  the  highest  modern  examples  of 
devoted,  active  piety,  to  say  nothing  of  many  oth 
ers  who  might  be  mentioned.  No  such  disadvan 
tage  marked  the  life  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 
His  course,  from  his  early  youth  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  was  exemplary,  luminous,  and  useful.  He 
was  never  chargeable  with  wasting  his  time  and 
talents  in  the  pursuits  of  sin.  If  not  truly  pious 
at  the  early  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years,  he  at 
least  had  the  appearance  and  the  general  demeanor 
of  true  religion  ;  and,  from  the  close  of  his  colle 
giate  course  until  the  termination  of  his  earthly  pil 
grimage,  his  life  presented  one  continued  series  of 
faithful  labors  for  "  serving  his  generation  by  the 
will  of  God."  It  pleased  God  to  bear  him  on, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  life,  without  a 
spot ;  and  to  enable  him,  while  he  was  engaged  in 
intellectual  and  moral  exercises  of  the  highest  im 
portance,  to  exhibit  a  purity  and  wisdom  of  de 
portment  adapted  to  adorn  and  set  the  stamp  of 
'.ruth  on  all  his  labors.  Perhaps  no  uninspired 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  213 

man,  since  the  days  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  could, 
with  more  truth,  adopt  the  language  of  that  emi 
nent  minister  of  Jesus  Christ ;  "  I  have  fought 
a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith"  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a 
man  of  purer  character  ever  lived. 

Other  men  have,  no  doubt,  excelled  him  in  par 
ticular  qualities  or  accomplishments.  There  have 
been  far  more  learned  men  ;  far  more  eloquent 
men  ;  far  more  enterprising  and  active  men,  in  the 
out-door  work  of  the  sacred  office.  But,  in  the 
assemblage  and  happy  union  of  those  high  quali 
ties,  intellectual  and  moral,  which  constitute  finish 
ed  excellence,  as  a  Man,  a  Christian,  a  Divine, 
and  a  Philosopher,  he  was,  undoubtedly,  one  of 
the  greatest  and  best  men  that  have  adorned  this 
or  any  other  country,  since  the  Apostolic  age. 


214  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

His  Writings.  —  Remarks  on  his  Style.  — * 
"  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of  Religion"  — • 
"  Treatise  on  Religious  Affections"  —  " Me 
moirs  of  Brainerd."  —  "  Essay  on  the  Free 
dom  of  the  Will."  —"  On  Original  Sin."  — 
"  History  of  Redemption."  —  "  Qualifications 
for  Communion."  —  "Last  End  of  the  Cre 
ation.''  —  "  Nature  of  True  Virtue."  —  Ser 
mons.  —  Other  Posthumous  Works.  —  General 
Views. 

THE  writings  of  President  Edwards  are  numer 
ous  ;  more  voluminous,  it  is  believed,  than  those 
of  any  other  American  divine.  The  last  and 
fullest  edition  of  his  works  is  comprised  in  nine 
large  and  closely  printed  octavo  volumes ;  * 
which,  if  printed  in  a  type  worthy  of  them,  and 
in  the  best  modern  style,  would  make  at  least 
twenty  full-sized  volumes  of  the  same  class. 

And  as  his  writings  are  more  voluminous  than 
those  of  any  other  American  divine ;  f  so  there 

*  Edited  by  the  Reverend  Sereno  E.  Dwight,  D.  D.,  a 
great-grandson  of  President  Edwards,  in  ten  volumes, 
8vo.  (the  first  containing  a  new  and  enlarged  Life  of 
the  author,)  New  York,  1829. 

f  Thirty-three  works  in  all. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  215 

is  no  risk  in  asserting,  that  they  bear  a  higher  rep 
utation,  have  been  more  extensively  read,  and 
have  held  a  more  commanding  authority  in  public 
estimation,  than  any  other.  Indeed,  for  the  last 
half  century,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  no 
other  American  writer  on  the  subject  of  theology 
has  been  so  frequently  quoted,  or  had  any  thing 
like  such  deference  manifested  to  his  opinions,  as 
President  Edwards.  By  the  pen  of  this  extraor 
dinary  man,  one  work  has  been  furnished,  which 
serves  as  a  text-book  in  colleges  and  universities ; 
several,  which  the  profoundest  divines  regard  as 
the  ablest,  on  their  respective  subjects,  in  any  lan 
guage  ;  and  a  large  number,  which  have  found  a 
place  on  the  shelves  of  almost  all  the  families  in 
the  United  States,  in  which  a  taste  for  sound  doc 
trine  and  intelligent  piety  prevails. 

And  yet  it  is  well  known,  that  this  high  charac 
ter  and  extensive  circulation  of  his  writings  have 
not  arisen,  as  in  some  other  cases,  from  any  thing 
peculiarly  attractive  in  their  style.  To  this  point 
he  never  seems,  especially  in  early  life,  to  have 
directed  particular  attention.  Intent  only  on  his 
weighty  and  important  thoughts,  he  was  not  so 
licitous  about  the  dress  in  which  they  were  pre 
sented.  Hence  his  style  is  circuitous,  sometimes 
tedious,  never  elegant,  and  often  loaded  and  per 
plexed.  Both  his  choice  and  his  arrangement  of 
lerms  are  frequently  untasteful ;  he  repeats  the 


216  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

same  words  and  phrases  in  the  same  paragraph 
again  and  again,  without  scruple  ;  he  is  in  a  great 
measure  regardless,  both  of  euphony  and  harmony 
of  diction ;  and  the  result  of  the  whole  is,  in 
many  cases,  less  distinct  and  impressive  than  is 
desirable.  His  biographer  tells  us,  that  he  had 
never  paid  any  attention  to  his  style,  until  a  short 
time  before  he  left  Northampton,  when  a  copy  of 
"  Sir  Charles  Grandison,"  one  of  Richardson's 
novels,  having  been  sent  to  him,  he  read  it  with 
no  small  interest,  admired  its  beautiful,  flowing 
language,  and,  for  the  first  time,  received  an  im 
pression  of  the  importance  of  style,  after  which 
he  directed  more  particular  attention  to  the  sub 
ject.  In  the  judgment  of  that  gentleman,  those 
works  which,  after  the  time  just  mentioned,  he 
himself  prepared  for  the  press,  manifested  increas 
ed  and  successful  attention  to  this  point. 

Still,  however,  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  that,  al 
though  the  style  of  this  great  man  is  destitute  of 
many  of  those  qualities  which  would  have  invest 
ed  with  far  greater  attraction  his  rich  and  weighty 
matter,  yet  few  writers  have  more  perfectly  suc 
ceeded  in  conveying  their  meaning.  Though  the 
language  in  which  he  clothes  his  thoughts  is  sel 
dom  neat  or  attractive,  yet  he  seems  incapable  of 
quitting  a  subject  until  he  has  exhibited  it  so  plain 
ly,  that  it  is  impossible  to  misapprehend  his  ideas. 
Though  circuitous  in  expressing  his  meaning,  it  is 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  217 

ultimately  made  precise  and  clear ;  though  some 
times  tedious  in  his  process,  he  never  fails  to  reach 
his  conclusion  in  the  most  distinct  manner ;  and, 
though  the  reader  is  sometimes  wearied  with  the 
number  and  minuteness  of  the  subterfuges  into 
which  he  traces  his  opponents,  it  is  plainly  seen,  in 
the  end,  to  be  the  best  means  of  ultimately  saving 
time,  of  anticipating  cavil,  and  of  attaining  truth. 

Justice  also  requires,  that  another  remark  be 
made  on  the  style  of  this  eminent  writer,  especial 
ly  in  relation  to  that  of  his  Sermons.  There  is 
something  in  it,  as  there  was  in  his  manner  of  de 
livering  in  the  pulpit  what  he  had  written,  alto 
gether  peculiar.  Though  destitute  of  graceful 
ness  and  elegance,  there  is  about  it  an  unaffected 
solemnity  and  earnestness,  adapted  to  take  hold  of 
the  mind  with  singular  force.  It  is  impossible  not 
to  see,  that  the  writer  forgets  himself;  forgets  the 
judgment  or  approbation  of  those  whom  he  ad 
dresses  ;  and  is  intent  only  on  conveying  and  im 
pressing  truth  for  their  everlasting  benefit.  It  is 
presumed  that  no  one  can  deliberately  peruse  his 
well-known  Sermon,  entitled,  "  Sinners  in  the 
Hands  of  an  angry  God,"  or  that  entitled,  "  The 
Justice  of  God  in  the  Damnation  of  Sinners," 
and  feel  at  all  surprised,  that  he,  who  was  capable 
of  the  awful  representations  and  pathetic  plead 
ings  exhibited  in  those  discourses,  should  be  re 
garded  as  a  most  solemn  and  impressive  preacher 


218  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

In  reviewing  the  writings  of  this  distinguished 
divine,  it  is  not  intended  to  make  a  minute  estimate 
of  all  his  publications  in  detail,  but  only  of  those 
leading  works,  which  have  held  the  highest  place 
in  public  esteem,  and  been  considered  as  most 
eminently  useful. 

Of  these,  the  earliest  in  order  is  that  entitled, 
st  Some  Thoughts  concerning  the  Present  Revival 
of  Religion  in  New  England,"  &ic.  It  is  general 
ly  supposed  that  this  is  the  most  complete,  judi 
cious,  and  satisfactory  work  on  the  subject  of  which 
it  treats,  in  the  English  or  any  other  language. 
In  deep  spiritual  discernment,  in  fervent  piety,  in 
sober,  cautious,  practical  wisdom,  it  stands  unri 
valled.  While  the  author  manifests  himself  to  be 
a  warm  friend  to  revivals  of  religion,  and  an  en 
lightened  judge  of  what  deserves  this  character, 
he  discovers  peculiar  skill  in  "  separating  the  pre 
cious  from  the  vile,"  and  in  laying  down  those 
principles  which  may  enable  his  readers  to  dis 
criminate,  not  only  between  genuine  and  spurious 
revivals  of  religion,  but  also  between  those  things 
in  genuine  revivals,  which  are  from  God,  and 
ought  to  be  encouraged,  and  those  which,  though 
connected  with  a  genuine  work  of  grace,  ought  to 
be  regarded  as  blemishes  of  the  work,  and,  of 
course,  to  be  discouraged  and  avoided. 

Of  the  deep  piety  and  peculiar  spiritual  skill 
manifested  in  this  work,  the  eloquent  Dr.  Chal- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  219 

mers,  of  Scotland,  speaks  in  the   following  strong 
language. 

"  If  human  talent  be  available  to  the  purpose 
of  demonstrating  the  character  of  the  seal,  it  is 
also,  in  so  far,  available  to  the  purpose  of  judging 
on  the  accuracy  of  the  impression.  The  work, 
perhaps,  which  best  exemplifies  this,  is  that  of 
President  Edwards  on  the  conversions  of  New 
England,  and  in  which  he  proposes  to  estimate 
their  genuineness,  by  comparing  the  marks  that 
had  been  left  on  the  person  of  the  disciple,  with 
the  marks  that  are  inscribed  on  the  book  of  the 
law  and  of  the  testimony.  He  was  certainly  much 
aided,  in  his  processes  of  discrimination  on  this 
subject,  by  the  circumstance  of  being  a  genuine 
convert  himself,  and  so  of  being  furnished  with 
materials  for  the  judgment  in  his  own  heart,  and 
that  stood  immediately  submitted  to  the  eye  of 
his  own  consciousness.  But  yet  no  one  could, 
without  the  metaphysical  faculty  wherewith  nature 
had  endowed  him,  have  conducted  so  subtile,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  so  sound  and  just  an  analysis,  as 
he  has  done  ;  and  no  one,  without  his  power  of 
insight  among  the  mysteries  of  our  nature,  (a 
power  which  belonged  to  his  mind,  according  to 
its  original  conformation,)  could  have  so  separated 
the  authentic  operation  of  the  woid  upon  the 
character,  from  the  errors  and  the  impulses  of  hu 
man  fancy. 


220  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

"  It  is  true  that  none  but  a  spiritual  man  could 
have  taken  so  minute  a  survey  of  that  impression 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  was  affirmed  to  have  made, 
through  the  preaching  of  the  word,  upon  many, 
in  a  season  of  general  awakening.  But  few,  also, 
are  -the  spiritual  men,  who  could  have  taken  so 
masterly  a  survey ;  and  that,  just  because  they 
wanted  the  faculties,  which  could  accomplish  their 
possessor  for  a  shrewd  and  metaphysical  discern 
ment  among  the  penetralia  of  the  human  consti 
tution.  It  is  thus  that,  by  the  light  of  nature,  one 
may  trace  the  characters  which  stand  out  upon 
the  seal ;  and,  by  the  light  of  nature,  one  may  be 
helped,  at  least,  to  trace  the  characters  that  are 
left  upon  the  human  subject,  in  consequence  of 
this  supernal  application.  Fanaticism  is  kept  in 
check  by  human  reason,  and  the  soberness  of  the 
faith  is  vindicated.  The  extravagance  of  all  pre 
tenders  to  a  spiritual  revelation  is  detected  and 
made  manifest  ;  and  the  true  disciple  stands  the 
test  he  is  submitted  to,  even  at  the  bar  of  the  nat 
ural  understanding.^  * 

The  next  work  in  chronological  order,  which 
demands  our  notice,  is  the  well-known  "  Treatise 
concerning  Religious  Affections."  In  this  work, 
the  author  treats,  first,  of  the  nature  of  the  affec 
tions,  and  their  importance  in  religion ;  secondly, 

*  The  Christian  and  Civic  Economy  of  Large  Towns 
Vol.  I.  p.  316-318. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  221 

of  what  are  no  certain  signs  that  religious  affec 
tions  are  gracious,  or  that  they  are  not;  and, 
thirdly,  of  what  are  distinguishing  signs  of  truly 
gracious  and  holy  affections.  The  great  excel 
lence  of  this  treatise  is  not  that  it  lays  down  new 
or  original  marks  of  Christian  character.  For  the 
author,  in  delineating  the  negative  and  positive 
signs  of  true  religious  affections,  constantly  refers 
to  Calvin,  Ames,  Burgess,  Shepard,  Flavel,  Owen, 
Stoddard,  and  others,  as  having  taught,  long  be 
fore,  the  same  doctrine  with  himself  on  the  great 
evidences  of  practical  piety.  But,  although  all 
the  leading  thoughts  are  such  as  are  found  in  the 
Word  of  God,  and  adopted  and  urged  from  time 
to  time  by  other  writers,  the  distinguishing  ex- 
ceLence  of  the  work  of  Edwards  is,  that  it  is  more 
full,  systematic,  and  complete  than  any  preceding 
treatise  on  the  same  subject ;  that  it  takes  more 
deep,  clear,  and  comprehensive  views,  and  search 
es  out  hypocrisy  and  self-deception  from  their 
lurking-places,  with  more  skill,  fidelity,  and  perse 
vering  patience. 

The  style  of  this  treatise  is  by  no  means  attrac 
tive.  Few  works  would  more  advantageously 
admit  of  abridgment.  The  original  is,  in  some 
of  its  parts,  unnecessarily  extended,  and  is  occa 
sionally  too  abstruse  for  many  readers.  Accord 
ingly,  the  Managers  of  the  American  Tract  Socie 
ty,  deeply  impressed  with  the  peculiar  excellence 


222  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  this  work,  have  caused  it  to  be  judiciously 
abridged,  and,  in  this  form,  have  adopted  it  as  one 
of  the  bound  volumes  acceptable  and  honored 
among  all  denominations  of  Christians,  which  they 
have  resolved,  as  far  as  possible,  to  circulate 
throughout  the  world,  wherever  the  English  lan 
guage  is  known. 

The  following  remarks  on  this  work  by  the 
Reverend  Sir  Henry  Moncrieff  Wellwood,  ol 
Edinburgh,  will  serve  to  show  the  impartial  esti 
mate  of  a  distinguished  foreigner. 

"  In  point  of  language,  this  book  is  undoubtedly 
defective,  like  all  the  writings  of  Jonathan  Ed 
wards.  Though  his  ideas  are  always  precise,  his 
sentences  are  often  embarrassed,  and  his  reasoning, 
though  it  goes  deep  into  the  human  character,  and 
very  successfully  lays  open  the  secret  recesses  of 
the  human  heart,  is  frequently  more  intricate  and 
metaphysical  than  his  subject  required,  or  than  is 
suited  to  the  capacity  of  every  reader.  But,  with 
all  its  defects,  his  treatise  on  Religious  Affections, 
though  he  had  never  written  any  thing  besides, 
would  have  placed  him  in  the  first  order  of  en 
lightened  and  practical  divines.  It  requires  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  as  well 
as  of  practical  religion,  to  enable  a  reader  to  ap 
preciate  its  value.  But,  the  more  attentively  the 
argument  contained  in  it  is  considered,  and  is  ap- 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  223 

plied  to  real  characters,  it  will  always  appear  so 
much  the  more  interesting  and  conclusive."  * 

Of  the  "  Memoir  of  David  Brainerd,"  which 
comes  next  in  order,  so  much  was  said  in  the 
chapter  which  records  the  date  of  its  publication, 
that  there  is  no  need  of  adding  more  here.  It  is 
one  of  those  standard  works,  the  value  of  which 
no  subsequent  productions  of  the  same  class  have 
superseded  or  impaired.  It  ought  to  be  read  by 
every  Christian  who  can  obtain  access  to  it.  But 
every  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and,  above  all,  every 
missionary,  ought  to  study  it  with  intense  interest 
and  prayer. 

But  no  publication  of  President  Edwards  has 
been  so  universally  lauded  and  honored  as  his 
''  Essay  on  the  Freedom  of  the  Will."  Thou 
sands  who  took  no  interest  in  his  theological  opin 
ions,  and  who  felt  no  regard  for  his  portrait  of 
practical  piety,  have  been  filled  with  admiration 
by  the  metaphysical  acuteness,  and  the  power  of 
profound  and  subtile  argument,  which  so  highly 
distinguish  that  work.  This,  undoubtedly,  of  all 
the  productions  of  his  pen,  places  his  intellectual 
character  in  the  strongest  and  most  striking  light. 
It  cannot  be  denied,  indeed,  that  some  of  the  in 
discreet  friends  of  this  great  man  have  claimed 
for  him  the  honor  of  more  entire  originality,  as  to 

*  Life  of  Erskine,  p.  198 


224  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

the  main  doctrines  of  this  Essay,  than  can  with 
iustice  be  awarded  to  him 

The  fundamental  doctrines  which  he  undertakes 
to  establish,  are,  that  the  only  rational  idea  of  hu 
man  freedom  is,  the  power  of  doing  as  we  please ; 
and  that  the  acts  of  the  will  are  rendered  certain 
by  some  other  cause  than  the  mere  power  of 
willing ;  in  other  words,  that  they  are  not  brought 
about  by  the  mere  "  self-determining  power  of  the 
will."  Now,  with  regard  to  neither  of  these  po 
sitions  can  it  be  justly  said  that  our  author  was 
strictly  original.  Both  these  doctrines  were  taught, 
with  considerable  distinctness,  by  Augustine,  in  his 
controversy  with  Pelagius  ;  by  Luther,  in  his  work 
De  Servo  Arbitrio ;  and  by  Turretin,  and  almost 
all  the  Calvinistic  writers  of  Geneva  and  Holland, 
during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
The  essential  features  of  the  same  philosophical 
doctrine  were  also  presented  by  Hobbes,  in  his 
"  Letter  on  Liberty  and  Necessity,"  soon  after  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  by  Leibnitz, 
in  his  controversy  with  Dr.  Clarke,  and  his  other 
metaphysical  writings,  early  in  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury  ;  and  still  more  luminously  and  strongly  by 
Anthony  Collins,  in  his  "  Philosophical  Inquiry 
concerning  Human  Liberty,"  which  had  been 
puolished  more  than  thirty  years  prior  to  the  ap 
pearance  of  the  work  of  Edwards. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  he  had  never  seen 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  225 

the  publication  of  Hobbes,  and  it  is  highly  proba 
ble  that  that  of  Collins  was  equally  unknown  to 
him.  But  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  what 
had  been  said  on  the  same  subject,  by  some  other 
writers,  had  entirely  escaped  his  notice.  Yet, 
after  all,  in  making  this  statement,  we  deny  to  our 
illustrious  countryman  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
honor  which  his  most  partial  friends  would  wish  to 
award  him.  So  much  remains  which  may  justly 
be  ascribed  to  him,  that  we  subtract  little  from  his 
substantial  fame.  H:5  great  mind  was  nobly  and 
most  powerfully  exercised  in  enlarging  the  territo 
ry  and  increasing  the  light  of  truth.  He  certain 
ly  appears  an  original  in  the  invention  and  exhi 
bition  of  arguments  against  error,  but  not  in  dis 
covering  the  main  truth  which  he  states  respecting 
the  liberty  of  the  will.  The  connexion  between 
motives  and  volitions,  the  liberty  of  choice  in 
man,  and  the  certainty  of  the  futurition  of  hu 
man  voluntary  actions,  in  short,  every  thing  in 
moral  necessity  consistent  with  free  agency,  were 
understood  and  embraced  before  his  day.  Still 
they  had  never  been  either  so  clearly  presented, 
or  so  successfully  demonstrated,  as  they  were  by 
him.  He  certainly  stated  and  sustained  them  with 
a  degree  of  novelty,  acuteness,  depth,  precision, 
and  force  of  reasoning,  which  no  one  of  his  pre 
decessors,  nor  all  together,  had  ever  reached. 
Hence,  when  his  book  appeared,  his  correspon- 

I.— 15 


226  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

dents  and  others,  in  Great  Britain,  considered 
him  as  having  rendered  a  great  and  essential  ser 
vice  to  the  cause  of  truth  ;  and  some  of  the  learn 
ed  divines  of  Holland  communicated  to  him  their 
warmest  thanks  for  having  thrown  newT  and  im 
portant  light  on  one  of  the  most  interesting  poi- 
tions  of  mental  and  theological  science. 

Dr.  Priestley,  indeed,  incautiously  tells  us,  that 
"  Edwards  hit  upon  the  true  philosophical  doctrine 
of  necessity,  which  he  scruples  not  to  assert,  that 
no  other  Calvinist  ever  did  before."  *  If  Dr, 
Priestley  had  been  as  well  acquainted  with  Cal- 
vinistic  writers  as  he  was  with  those  of  some  other 
classes,  he  would  not  have  made  such  an  asser 
tion.  It  is  a  mistake.  Many  Calvinistic  writers 
before  Edwards  had  espoused,  substantially,  his 
leading  doctrine.  It  is  well  known,  that  the  views 
of  Leibnitz  were  adopted  by  many  of  the  conti 
nental  as  well  as  other  Calvinistic  divines;  of  which 
Stapfer,  to  name  no  others,  was  a  conspicuous  ex 
ample.  It  is  possible  that  Edwards  was  the  first 
Calvinistic  divine,  who,  in  his  speculations  on  this 
subject,  freely  employed  the  word  necessity,  though 
even  this  is  not  certain  ;  but,  at  any  rate,  all  the 
chief  ideas,  which  he  indicated  by  this  term,  were 
recognised  before,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
his  use  of  that  term  tended  to  promote  the  cause 
of  truth. 

*  Examination  of  Dr.  Reid's  Inquiry,  &c.     Preface 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  22T 

When  it  is  said  that  Hobbes,  Collins,  and  sev 
eral  other  philosophical  writers,  who  lived  before 
Edwards,  taught,  substantially,  the  same  doctrine 
concerning  human  liberty  as  he  did,  it  is  always 
to  be  remembered,  that  those  writers  agreed  with 
him  only  in  some  leading  philosophical  principles ; 
that  their  inferences  from  those  principles,  and  the 
practical  use  which  they  made  of  them,  were 
widely  different  from  his ;  indeed  such  as  he 
not  only  rejected,  but  regarded  with  abhorrence. 
They,  and  others  who  have  joined  their  ranks 
since,  deduced  from  their  radical  doctrine  either 
an  infidel  or  semi-infidel  system,  of  the  most  mis 
chievous  character.  Whereas  Edwards  demon 
strated  that  the  orthodox  system  of  free  grace, 
taught  so  luminously  in  the  New  Testament,  re 
vived  by  Augustine,  maintained  by  the  witnesses 
of  the  truth  through  the  dark  ages,  and  finally 
brought  again  to  light,  and  inculcated  with  so 
much  zeal  by  Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  other  re 
formers,  could  not  be  successfully  maintained  with 
out  assuming  his  leading  doctrine. 

It  cannot  indeed  be  denied,  that,  a  little  before 
Mr.  Edwards's  book  appeared,  some  pious  men 
deemed  in  the  main  orthodox,  such,  for  example, 
as  Watts,  Doddridge,  and  others,  of  the  same 
school,  whose  writings  had  great  circulation  in 
America,  had  taught  a  doctrine  concerning  human 
liberty  altogether  untenable,  and  wholly  subver- 


228  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

sive  of  some  most  precious  theological  truths. 
The  weak  and  absurd  theory  of  Archbishop  King 
was  evidently  adopted  by  these  eminent  men,  and 
exerted  an  injurious  influence.  Mr.  Edwards  saw 
and  lamented  this.  He  perceived,  in  his  own 
neighborhood,  that  Arminian  principles  were  evi 
dently  gaining  ground,  both  among  ministers  and 
people,  from  the  simple  admission  of  the  self- 
determining  power  of  the  will.  He  saw  that,  as 
long  as  men  entertain  the  opinion,  that  all  their 
moral  acts  are  independent  of  God,  that  all  gen 
uine  moral  agency  must  be  self-originated,  and 
that  unless  they  have  the  power  themselves  of 
originating  all  holy  acts,  they  cannot  be  free  or 
responsible,  they  could  neither  appreciate  nor  re 
ceive  the  Gospel  as  a  system  of  grace.  He,  there 
fore,  justly  supposed  that  it  would  be  rendering 
a  most  important  service  to  the  cause  of  philo 
sophical  truth,  as  well  as  of  practical  Christianity, 
to  show  the  true  and  essential  nature  of  the  free 
dom  of  the  will,  what  is  necessary  to  lay  a  just 
foundation  for  praise  or  blame,  and  the  real  char 
acter  of  that  inability  to  obey  the  commands  of 
God,  under  which  unrenewed  men  labor.  This 
he  undertook,  and  this  he  performed  with  the 
most  triumphant  success,  with  a  degree  of  success 
which  has  been  the  admiration  of  the  most  com 
petent  judges  from  the  hour  in  which  his  Essay 
was  published  to  the  present  time. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  229 

The  work  on  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will "  has 
now  been  before  the  public  more  than  eighty 
years,  but  has  never  yet  received  any  thing  that 
deserved  to  be  called  an  answer.  The  Reverend 
Dr.  James  Dana,  of  New  Haven,  and  the  Rev 
erend  Dr.  Samuel  West,  of  New  Bedford,  each  at 
tempted  a  refutation  of  it  in  a  volume  of  consid 
erable  size,  but,  in  the  opinion  of  all  competent 
judges,  without  approaching  the  attainment  of 
their  object.*  Dr.  Reid  and  Dugald  Stewart,  of 
Scotland,  have  also,  like  some  other  inferior  men, 
attempted  to  set  aside  the  doctrine  of  Edwards, 
and  establish  an  opposite  system ;  but  so  feebly, 
and  with  so  little  success,  that  the  cause  of  oppo 
sition  to  the  illustrious  American  may  be  con 
sidered  as  desperate. 

"  Edwards,"  says  the  author  of  the  "  Natural 
History  of  Enthusiasm,"  "  Edwards  achieved,  in 
deed,  his  immediate  object,  that  of  exposing  to 
contempt  in  all  its  evasions  the  Arminian  notion 
of  contingency,  as  the  blind  law  of  human  voli 
tions  ;  and  he  did  more,  —  he  effectively  redeemed 
the  doctrines  called  Calvinistic  from  that  scorn 

*  The  attack  of  Dr.  West  was  ably  repelled  by  Jona 
than  Edwards,  Jr.,  D.  D.,  the  second  son  of  President 
Edwards,  and  himself  afterwards  President  of  Union  Col 
lege.  Dr.  Edwards's  reply  also  included  a  notice  o^  Dr. 
Dana's  attack. 


230  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

with  which  the  irreligious  party  within  and  without 
the  pale  of  Christianity  would  fein  have  over 
whelmed  them.  He  taught  the  world  to  be  less 
flippant ;  and  there  is  reason  also  to  surmise, 
(though  the  facts  are  not  to  be  distinctly  intro 
duced,)  that,  in  the  reaction  which  of  late  has 
counterpoised  the  once  triumphant  Arminianism 
of  English  Episcopal  divinity,  the  influence  of 
Edwards  has  been  much  greater,  than  those  who 
have  yielded  to  it  have  always  confessed." 

"  Calvinism,  as  distinguished  from  Arminian 
ism,  encircles  or  involves  great  truths,  which, 
whether  dimly  or  clearly  discerned,  whether  de 
fended  in  Scriptural  simplicity  of  language  or  de 
formed  by  grievous  perversions,  will  never  be 
abandoned  while  the  Bible  continues  to  be  de 
voutly  read,  and  which,  if  they  might  indeed  be 
subverted,  would  drag  to  the  same  ruin  every  doc 
trine  of  revealed  religion.  Zealous,  dogmatical, 
and  sincere  Arminians  little  think  how  much  they 
owe  to  the  writer,  who,  more  than  any  other  in 
modern  times,  has  withstood  their  inconsiderate 
endeavors  to  impugn  certain  prominent  articles  01 
the  Reformation.  Nay,  they  think  not,  that  to  the 
existence  of  Calvinism  they  owe  their  own,  as 
Christians.  Yet  as  much  as  this  might  be  af 
firmed  and  made  good,  even  though  he  who  should 
undertake  the  task  were  so  to  conduct  his  argu 


JONATHAN    EDWARDS.  231 

ment,  as  might  make  six  Calvinists  in  ten  his 
enemies."  * 

"  This  celebrated  treatise  must  be  allowed  to 
have  achieved  an  important  service  for  Christi 
anity,  inasmuch  as  it  has  stood  like  a  bulwark  in 
front  of  principles  which,  whether  or  not  they  may 
have  hitherto  been  stated  in  the  happiest  manner, 
are  of  such  consequence,  that  if  they  were  once 
and  universally  abandoned  by  the  church,  the 
church  itself  would  not  long  make  good  its  oppo 
sition  to  infidelity. 

"  The  diffidence  and  the  Christian  humility,  or 
the  retired  habits,  of  the  American  divine  pre 
vented,  perhaps,  his  entertaining  the  thought,  that 
he  might  be  listened  to  by  philosophers,  as  well  as 
by  his  brethren,  the  ministers  of  religion.  Sup 
posing  himself  to  write  only  for  those,  who  ac 
knowledged,  as  cordially  as  he  did,  the  authority 
of  Scripture,  he  scrupled  not  to  make  out  his 
chain  of  reasoning,  indifferently,  of  abstractions 
and  of  texts,  and,  especially  in  the  latter  portion 
of  his  treatise,  readily  took  the  short  Scriptural 
road  to  a  conclusion,  which  must  have  been  cir- 
cuitously  reached  in  any  other  way.  Just  and 
peremptory  as  these  conclusions  may  be,  they 

*  Essay  on  the  Application  of  Abstract  Reasoning  to 
the  Christian  Doctrines,  originally  published  as  \T\  Intro 
duction  to  Edwards  on  the  Will,  p  20.  —  The  writer  of 
this  Essay  is  a  layman  of  the  Church  of  England. 


232  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

commanded  no  respect  out  of  the  pale  of  the 
church ;  nay,  they  rather  excited  the  scorn  of 
those  who  naturally  said,  *  If  these  principles  could 
have  been  established  by  abstract  argument,  a 
thinker  so  profound  as  Edwards,  and  so  fond  of 
metaphysics,  would  not  have  proved  them  by  the 
Bible.' 

"  Skeptics  of  all  classes  (it  has  ever  been  the 
practice  and  policy  of  the  powers  of  evil  to  build 
with  plundered  materials,)  availing  themselves 
greedily  of  the  abstract  portions  of  the  inquiry, 
and  contemning  its  Biblical  connectives  and  con 
clusions,  carried  on  the  unfinished  reasoning  in 
their  own  manner ;  and,  when  they  had  completed 
their  edifice  of  gloom  and  fear,  turned  impudently 
to  the  faithful,  and  said,  £  Nay,  quarrel  not  with 
our  labors  ;  the  foundations  were  laid  by  one  oi 
yourselves.'  "  * 

The  work  of  Edwards  next  in  order,  both  of 
time  and  importance,  is  entitled,  "  The  Great 
Christian  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin  defended." 
This  volume  was  in  the  press  at  the  time  of  the 
author's  decease ;  and,  although  the  whole  of  it 
had  not  received  his  final  correction,  yet  he  in 
tended  and  prepared  it  for  publication. 

Of  this  work,  the  Reverend  Sir  Henry  Mon- 
creifF  Wellwood,  of  Edinburgh,  in  his  life  of  Dr. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  18, 19. 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  233 

ILrskine,  thus  speaks  ;  "  This  book,  for  ingenuity 
or  originality,  or  for  vigorous  and  acute  argument, 
is  inferior  to  nothing  else  which  the  author  has 
written.  It  is  common,  indeed,  to  reject  without 
examination,  the  doctrine  which  he  maintains,  as 
either  untenable  or  absurd.  But  it  will  not  be 
easy  to  produce  a  publication,  in  which  his  argu 
ment  has  been  fairly  met  by  those  who  have 
most  affected  to  despise  his  conclusions.  "  * 

The  Reverend  George  Hill,  D.  D.,  Principal 
of  St.  Mary's  College,  Aberdeen,  in  treating  on 
the  subject  of  original  sin,  also  speaks  of  this  work, 
in  the  following  terms.  "  This  opinion  is  sup 
ported  in  all  the  Calvinistic  systems  of  divinity  by 
nearly  the  same  arguments.  But,  in  stating  the 
grounds  of  it,  I  shall  take,  as  my  principal  guide, 
Mr.  Edwards,  formerly  president  of  the  College 
of  New  Jersey,  in  America,  who  has  written  able 
treatises  upon  the  different  branches  of  the  Cal 
vinistic  system,  and  whose  defence  of  the  doctrine 
of  original  sin  contains  the  fullest  and  acutest 
answers  that  I  have  seen  to  the  objections  com 
monly  urged  against  that  doctrine."  f 

In  this  work,  as  in  the  preceding,  the  originality 
and  power  of  the  author  appear,  not  in  teaching 
any  thing  absolutely  new ;  for  he  teaches  the  old 
Calvinistic  doctrine,  as  exhibited  by  the  Reformers, 

*  Life  of  Erskine,  pp.  225,  226. 

f  Lectures  on  Theology,  Vol.  II.  p.  336,  8vo  ed. 


234  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  by  the  venerable  men  who  succeeded  them 
in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  is  careful  at  every  step  to  produce  abundant 
testimony  not  only  from  the  Word  of  God,  but 
also  from  the  works  of  preceding  writers.  He 
distinguishes  between  original  and  actual  sin. 
He  represents  the  former  as  consisting  in  a  moral 
taint  or  corrupt  nature,  anterior  to  all  moral  acts, 
and  expressly  denominates  that  corrupt  nature  sin 
ful.  And  he  also  maintains  the  imputation  of 
Adam's  first  sin  to  his  posterity.  The  following 
short  quotations  will  place  this  statement  beyond 
all  doubt. 

In  the  first  sentence  of  his  treatise  he  says, 
"  By  original  sin,  as  the  phrase  has  been  most 
commonly  used  by  divines,  is  meant  the  innate 
sinful  depravity  of  the  heart.  But  yet,  when  the 
doctrine  of  original  sin  is  spoken  of,  it  is  vulgarly 
understood  in  that  latitude,  as  to  include  not  only 
the  depravity  of  nature,  but  the  imputation  of 
Adam's  first  sin ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  liable- 
ness  or  exposedness  of  Adam's  posterity,  in  the 
divine  judgment,  to  partake  of  the  punishment 
of  that  sin.  So  far  as  I  know,  most  of  those  who 
hold  one  of  these,  have  maintained  the  other,  and 
most  of  those  who  have  opposed  one,  have  op 
posed  the  other.  And  it  may,  perhaps,  appear  in 
our  future  consideration  of  the  subject,  that  they 
are  closely  connected,  and  that  the  arguments 
which  prove  the  one,  establish  the  other ;  and  that 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  235 

there  are  no  more  difficulties  attending  the  allow 
ing  of  one  than  the  other." 

That  Edwards  represents  innate  depravuy  o* 
heart  as  universal,  and  that  he  does  not  sen  pie  tc 
call  this  depravity  sinful,  will  be  doubted  by  none 
who  are  acquainted  with  his  work.  To  establish 
this,  no  specific  quotations  are  deemed  necessary. 

But  he  also  maintains  that  the  imputation  of 
Adam's  first  sin  to  all  his  posterity,  is  taught  with 
great  plainness  in  Holy  Scripture.  On  Romans 
v.  12-21,  he  remarks,  "  As  this  place  in  gene 
ral  is  very  full  and  plain,  so  the  doctrine  of  the 
corruption  of  nature  derived  from  Adam,  and  also 
the  imputation  of  his  first  sin,  are  both  clearly 
taught  in  it.  The  imputation  of  Adam's  one 
transgression  is  indeed  most  directly  and  frequent 
ly  asserted.  We  are  here  assured  that  by  one 
man's  sin,  death  passed  upon  all;  all  being  ad 
judged  to  this  punishment,  as  having  sinned  in 
that  one  man's  sin  ;  and  it  is  repeated,  over  and 
over,  that  all  are  condemned,  that  many  are  dead, 
many  made  sinners,  &c.,  by  one  man's  offence, 
by  the  disobedience  of  one,  by  one  offence.  And 
the  doctrine  of  original  depravity  is  also  here 
taught,  when  the  Apostle  says,  By  one  man  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  having  a  plain  respect  to 
that  universal  corruption  and  wickedness,  as  well 
as  guilt,  which  he  had  before  largely  treated  of."  * 

*  See  Treatise  on  Original  Sin,  Part  II.  Chap   4 


236  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Again  he  says ;  "  Though  the  word  impute  is 
not  used  with  respect  to  Adam's  sin ;  yet  it  is  said, 
All  have  sinned,  which,  respecting  infants,  can  be 
true  only  of  their  sinning  by  this  sin.  And  it  is 
said,  By  his  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners; 
and  that  judgment  came  upon  all  men  by  that  sin; 
and  that,  by  this  means,  death  (the  wages  of  sin) 
passed  upon  all  men.  Which  phrases  amount  to 
full  and  precise  explanations  of  the  word  impute ; 
and  do  therefore  more  certainly  determine  the 
point  really  insisted  on."  * 

And  that  President  Edwards,  in  this  work,  con 
tends  for  the  immediate  imputation  of  Adam's  sin 
to  his  posterity,  is  evident  from  a  variety  of  passa 
ges.  He  expressly  says,  "  Both  guilt  or  exposed- 
ness  to  punishment,  and  also  depravity  of  heart, 
came  upon  Adam's  posterity  just  as  they  came 
upon  him,  as  much  as  if  he  and  they  had  all  co 
existed,  like  a  tree  with  many  branches  ;  allowing 
only  for  the  difference  necessarily  resulting  from 
the  place  Adam  stood  in,  as  head  or  root  of  the 
whole,  and  being  first  and  most  immediately  dealt 
with,  and  most  immediately  acting  and  suffering. 
Otherwise,  it  is  as  if,  in  every  step  of  proceeding, 
every  alteration  in  the  root  had  been  attended,  at 
the  same  instant,  with  the  same  steps  and  altera 
tions  throughout  the  whole  tree,  in  each  individ 
ual  branch.  I  think  this  will  naturally  follow  on 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  237 

the  supposition  of  there  being  a  constituted  one 
ness  or  identity  of  Adam  and  his  posterity  in  this 
affair."  * 

And  this  oneness  or  identity  of  Adam  and  his 
posterity,  he  distinctly  explains,  not  as  a  natural 
or  personal,  but  as  a  moral  or  covenant  identity, 
laying  a  foundation  for  the  undoubted  fact,  reveal 
ed  in  Scripture,  that,  while  the  personal  acts  of 
Adam  did  not,  and  could  not  become  the  personal 
acts  of  his  posterity,  the  liabilities  or  responsi 
bilities  of  the  one  attached  to  the  other. 

These  statements  are  due  to  the  cause  of  tru'.h, 
and  to  the  memory  of  President  Edwards.  Per 
haps  the  sentiments  of  few  men  in  modern  times 
have  been  more  misrepresented  than  his.  It  is 
one  of  the  many  testimonies  to  the  peculiar  eleva 
tion  and  weight  of  his  character  in  public  esteem, 
that  so  many  errorists  take  shelter  under  his  wing, 
and  are  fond  of  claiming  to  agree  with  him.  In 
this  way  opinions  have  been  ascribed  to  that  great 
and  good  man,  which  are  not  only  not  to  be  foui;d 
in  his  writings,  but  which  he  has  solemnly  and  in 
express  terms  repudiated  ;  and  which,  had  they 
been  ascribed  to  him  while  living,  he  would  have 
renounced  with  abhorrence. 

On  the  whole,  this  work,  though  it  affects  no 
novelties,  will,  doubtless,  be  regarded  by  every 
competent  judge,  as  by  far  the  most  comprehen 

*  Ibid.,    Part  IV     Chap.  3. 


238  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

sive,  corap  ete,  profound,  and  demonstrative  work 
on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  to  be  found  in 
any  language.  Like  all  the  principal  works  of 
the  author,  it  goes  to  the  bottom  of  the  subject ; 
wields  every  argument  with  the  hand  of  a  master  ; 
guards  every  avenue  of  hostile  approach ;  arrays 
and  answers  more  numerous  and  plausible  objec 
tions  than  even  his  adversaries  had  ever  adduced ; 
and  all  with  a  candor  and  earnestness,  which  ex 
hibit  an  advocate  at  once  sincere  in  his  convic 
tions,  and  confident  in  the  importance  and  preva 
lence  of  truth. 

Another  systematic  work  of  this  excellent  man 
has  deservedly  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of  public 
esteem,  and  will  be  more  admired,  the  more  it  is 
examined.  The  work  referred  to  is  "  The  Histo 
ry  of  Redemption."  It  has  been  already  stated, 
that  this  volume  was  not  prepared  by  the  author 
for  the  press ;  and  that  it  was  not  published  until 
many  years  after  his  decease.  The  substance  of 
it  was  originally  delivered,  in  the  form  of  a  series 
of  sermons,  at  Northampton,  in  1739.  In  his 
letter  to  the  trustees  of  the  College,  he  speaks  of 
his  plan  of  digesting  and  extending  it  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  form  a  complete  body  of  divinity, 
extending  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  combining  a  complete  view  of  Gospel 
truth,  illustrated  by  sacred  and  profane  history.  It 
was  left  wholly  unfinished  at  his  death.  The 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  239 

manuscript,  many  years  after  the  author's  decease, 
was  remitted  by  his  son,  then  residing  at  New 
Haven,  to  Dr.  Erskine,  of  Edinburgh,  who  re 
duced  it  from  the  form  of  sermons  to  that  of  a 
treatise,  and  first  published  it  in  that  city,  in  1777. 

Although  this  work  appears  under  all  the  dis 
advantages  which  its  history,  just  given,  must  ob 
viously  imply,  it  is  regarded,  by  all  competent 
judges,  as  a  noble  structure,  the  excellence  of 
which,  while  it  enlightens  and  gratifies,  excites 
deep  regret  that  the  author  did  not  live  to  finish 
it.  The  plan  is  admirable  ;  the  outline,  sublime  ; 
the  spirit,  devout  and  elevating ;  and  the  whole  re 
sult,  adapted  to  enlarge  the  views  and  raise  the 
devotion  of  the  theological  inquirer.  The  wn*r 
in  which  the  author  combines  sacred  and  pro 
fane  history  is  at  once  striking  and  delightful 
The  use  which  he  makes  of  historical  facts,  for 
elucidating  and  confirming  truth,  is  highly  interest 
ing.  And  the  happy  manner,  in  which  he  illus 
trates  the  providence  by  the  word  of  God,  shows 
the  hand  of  a  workman  abundantly  furnished  in 
divine  as  well  as  human  knowledge. 

Had  the  venerable  author  been  permitted  to 
complete  this  work  on  the  plan  which  he  propos 
ed,  it  would  probably  have  been  the  best  system 
of  divinity  ever  presented  to  the  church  ;  rich  in 
truth ;  truth  teeming  with  the  life  of  historical  in 
cident  ;  truth  standing  forth  in  all  the  prominence, 


240  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

solemnity,  and  power  of  Jehovah's  recorded  deal 
ings  with  his  church  and  people ;  exhibiting  his 
works  and  his  word  uniting  their  testimony  to 
show  forth  his  glory.  As  it  is,  however,  it  de 
serves  to  be  read  again  and  again  by  every  Chris 
tian,  and  especially  by  every  candidate  for  the 
holy  ministry  ;  as  presenting  the  inspired  history 
in  a  new  light ;  as  evincing  a  deep  acquaintance 
with  Scripture ;  as  suggesting  trains  of  thought, 
and  connexions  of  truth,  of  the  most  instructive 
and  interesting  kind ;  as  leading  to  views  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom,  at  once  simple  and  obvious, 
yet  invested  with  a  grandeur  and  glory  of  no  or 
dinary  character  ;  and  the  whole  resplendent  with 
a  spirit  of  practical  piety,  as  pure  as  it  is  ele 


vating. 


The  next  publication  in  size  and  importance, 
made  by  Mr.  Edwards,  is  his  treatise  on  "  Qualifi 
cations  for  full  Communion  in  the  visible  Church." 
This  work,  the  reader  will  recollect,  was  occa 
sioned  by  the  well-known  difference  of  opinion 
between  him  and  the  people  of  Northampton,  in 
regard  to  the  proper  candidates  for  church  com 
munion,  and  which  finally  led  to  the  dissolution  01 
his  pastoral  relation  among  them.  It  has  ever 
been  regarded  as  holding  the  very  first  rank  among 
those  works,  which  support  that  side  of  the  ques 
tion  which  it  maintains.  No  adequate  answer  tr 
t  has  ever  been  given.  That  of  Mr.  Williams, 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  241 

to  which  Mr.  Edwards,  as  before  stated,  wrote  a 
reply,  was  generally  regarded  as  feeble  and  alto 
gether  unsuccessful.  It  is  not  recollected  that 
any  thing  more  worthy  of  notice  has  since  ap 
peared.  But  what  places  the  power  of  this  work 
in  the  strongest  light,  is  the  consideration  of  it? 
actual  effects.  Although,  at  the  time  of  its  pub 
lication,  the  doctrine  of  lax  communion,  as  held 
by  the  venerable  Stoddard,  which  it  opposed,  Wbo 
general  in  New  England,  and  maintained  not  only 
with  zeal,  but  with  zeal  of  the  most  ardent  and 
uncompromising  kind  ;  yet,  in  a  few  years  after 
the  appearance  of  this  treatise,  an  entire  revolu 
tion  was  effected  in  almost  all  the  evangelical 
churches  of  New  England,  so  that,  in  spite  of 
all  the  prejudice  and  interest  which  plead  so  pow 
erfully  against  the  introduction  of  his  doctrine,  it 
is  now  as  rare  to  find  an  orthodox  church  in  that 
part  of  the  United  States,  which  does  not  adopt 
and  act  upon  it,  as  it  once  was  to  find  one,  that 
regarded  it  with  any  degree  of  approbation.  That 
the  work  of  Edwards  had  a  principal  instrumen 
tality  in  effecting  this  change,  there  can  be  no 
doubt. 

The  Dissertations  of  Edwards  on  "  God's  Last 
End  in  the  Creation  of  the  World,"  and  on  "  The 
Nature  of  True  Virtue,"  next  claim  our  attention. 
These  works,  though  no  doubt  intended  for  the 
press,  yet,  as  before  mentioned,  were  not  fully 

I.—IG  16 


242  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

prepared  for  publication  by  the  venerable  author, 
and  were  not  actually  made  public  until  nearly 
thirty  years  after  his  decease.  In  the  former,  he 
maintains  that  God's  "  last  end  in  the  creation  of 
the  world,  was  the  manifestation  of  his  own  glory 
in  the  highest  happiness  of  his  creatures;"  and  in 
the  latter,  that  "  the  essence  of  true  virtue  consists 
in  the  love  of  Being  in  general."  These  Disser 
tations  bear  the  impress  of  the  author's  profound 
and  powerful  mind,  and  are  well  worthy  of  an 
attentive  perusal.  Yet  it  may  be  seriously  doubted 
whether  their  general  influence  on  the  theology 
of  our  country  has  not  been  on  the  whole  unfa 
vorable. 

It  is  true,  the  great  principle,  that  God  made 
all  things  for  his  own  glory,  is  as  old  as  the  Bible, 
and  has  made  a  very  distinct  and  important  part 
of  the  system  of  every  orthodox  divine  from  the 
days  of  the  Apostles  to  the  present  time.  As  to 
this  point,  there  is  nothing  new  in  the  Dissertation 
of  Edwards,  except,  perhaps,  that  he  has  placed 
it  in  a  stronger  ight,  and  established  it  by  more 
abundant,  profound,  extended,  and  irrefragable 
reasoning,  than  any  preceding  writer.  But  with 
this  incontrovertible  doctrine  he  combined  specu 
lations  and  conclusions  concerning  the  highest 
happiness  of  the  creatures  of  God,  which  some 
of  the  most  judicious  divines,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  have  been  constrained  to  regard  as  open- 


JONATHA.N     EDWARDS.  243 

ing  the  way  to  questionable  and  unsafe  results.  If 
his  doctrine  be  considered  as  naturally  leading  to 
the  theory  of  Optimism,  that  is,  to  the  doctrine 
that  God,  in  the  work  of  creation,  has  formed  a 
system,  which  will  secure  the  greatest  amount  of 
happiness  that  is  possible,  a  doctrine  which  has 
entered  so  largely  into  the  plan  of  many  American 
theologians  since  his  day,  it  cannot  be  regarded  as 
having  forwarded  the  great  interests  of  sober  and 
Scriptural  theology.  It  would  be  unfair,  however, 
to  make  him  responsible  for  the  inferences  drawn 
by  others  from  a  work  which  he  never  lived  to 
finish,  and  which,  had  he  foreseen,  he  would  prob 
ably  have  been  ready  to  reject. 

With  regard  to  the  Dissertation  on  the  "  Nature 
of  True  Virtue,"  one  of  the  most  learned  and  able 
divines,  who  have  adorned  the  American  church 
within  the  last  thirty  years,  once  said,  in  the  hear 
ing  of  the  writer  of  these  pages,  that  there  was 
no  human  leader  whom  he  was  more  disposed  to 
venerate  and  to  follow,  than  President  Edwards; 
but  that,  at  the  doctrine  of  this  work  alone,  among 
all  his  writings,  he  was  compelled  to  hesitate.  We 
have  seen,  in  a  preceding  page,  the  estimate  made 
of  its  leading  doctrine  by  the  acute  and  eloquent 
Robert  Hall,  of  Great  Britain.  If  the  theory  be 
liable  to  the  objections  urged  by  that  eminent  man, 
they  are  certainly  most  serious  in  their  import. 
Perhaps,  too,  we  may  trace  to  the  leading  doctrine 


244  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

of  this  Dissertation,  the  position,  that,  to  constitute 
real  piety,  "  disinterested  affection  "  must  be  car 
ried  so  far  as  to  amount  to  a  "  willingness  to  be 
damned  for  the  glory  of  God yi ;  a  position  which, 
ihough  not  recognised  by  Edwards,  has  been  so 
prominent  in  the  system  of  many  American  di 
vines  who  professed  to  regard  him  as  their  theo 
logical  leader.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  his 
profound  and  benevolent  mind  would  have  re 
jected  such  an  unreasonable  and  revolting  infer 
ence.  But  it  really  seems  difficult  to  stop  short 
of  this  position,  if  his  theory  of  virtue  or  holiness 
be  fully  adopted. 

The  aberrations  of  small  men  are  commonly 
productive  of  little  mischief,  excepting  to  them 
selves.  But  it  not  unfrequently  happens,  that 
even  the  minor  mistakes  of  those  great  and  good 
men,  who  have  shone  as  lights  of  the  first  magni 
tude  in  their  respective  generations,  betray  their 
less  discerning  admirers  into  errors  of  a  still  more 
serious  character  than  their  own.  Few  men  can 
be  charged,  with  less  propriety  than  President  Ed 
wards,  with  not  foreseeing  all  the  consequences  of 
their  respective  theories ;  but  it  is  confidently  be 
lieved,  that,  if  he  had  foreseen  the  use  which 
has  been  since  made  of  the  doctrine  of  this  Dis 
sertation,  he  would  either  have  shrunk  from  its 
publication,  or  have  guarded  its  various  aspects 
with  additional  care. 


JONATHAN      EDWARDS.  245 

With  respect  to  the  Sermons  of  our  author,  they 
bear  a  peculiar  and  strongly -marked  character.  It 
might  have  been  expected,  that  the  pulpit  dis 
courses  of  so  profound  a  metaphysician  would 
have  abounded  much  more  in  cold  and  chilling 
abstraction  and  demonstration,  than  in  pathetic  and 
solemn  appeals  to  the  conscience  and  the  heart. 
But  this  is  by  no  means  the  case.  Though  their 
style,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  remarkable  for 
either  polish  or  brevity,  but  rather  the  reverse  ; 
and  though  their  structure  is  far  from  being  gen 
erally  conformed  to  the  most  established  canons 
of  sacred  rhetoric  ;  yet,  in  weight  of  thought,  in 
richness  of  instruction,  in  solemnity  and  tenderness 
of  appeal,  and  in  skill  and  pungency  of  applica 
tion,  they  are  equalled  by  few  discourses  in  any 
language.  When  read  at  the  present  day,  they 
render  perfectly  credible  all  the  accounts  which 
his  biographers  give  us  of  the  deep  impression 
often  made  by  them  on  popular  assemblies. 

Several  of  these  Sermons  are  worthy  of  special 
notice.  Among  this  class  are  Jive  in  the  fifth 
volume,  most  of  which  were  preached  during  the 
most  remarkable  and  powerful  revival  of  religion 
by  which  his  ministry  was  ever  distinguished.  Of 
thes3  Sermons,  one  of  the  most  striking  features 
is  their  full  and  zealous  maintenance  of  the  old 
Calvinistic  doctrines,  particularly  that  of  the  na 
tive  moral  impotence  of  man,  the  sovereignty  o/ 


246  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

God  in  the  dispensations  of  his  grace,  and  justifi 
cation  solely  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of 
Christ.  These  were  the  doctrines,  which  he  did 
not  scruple  to  teach  in  the  old,  established  lan 
guage  of  the  Bible  and  the  Reformers,  and  which 
he  found  most  "quick  and  powerful  "  in  awaken 
ing,  convincing,  and  converting  the  impenitent, 
and  in  building  up  believers  in  faith  and  holiness. 
And  the  same  doctrines  were  prominent  in  the 
ministry  of  Whitefield  and  of  all  the  able  men, 
who  were  contemporary  and  cooperated  with  Ed 
wards,  and  whose  preaching  was,  perhaps,  more 
extensively  blessed  to  the  enlargement  of  the  Re 
deemer's  kingdom,  than  that  of  any  individuals 
since  their  day.  To  the  denial  of  a  federal  rela 
tion  between  Adam  and  his  posterity,  and  between 
Christ  and  his  people,  and  to  the  unscriptural 
dream  of  an  indefinite  atonement,  it  is  evident  that 
Edwards  and  his  friends  were  entire  strangers. 

The  remaining  works  of  this  eminent  man  are 
chiefly  those  which  were  published  many  years 
after  his  decease,  and  which  would  seem  never  to 
have  been  intended  by  him  for  publication.  These 
are  "  Miscellaneous  Observations  on  Important 
Theological  Subjects,"  "Miscellaneous  Remarks 
on  Important  Theological  Controversies,"  "Types 
of  the  Messiah,"  and  "  Notes  on  the  Bible."  In 
all  of  them  there  is  weighty,  important  matter 
and  many  marks  of  the  great  mind  of  the  author 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS  247 

In  the  two  first-named  articles,  especially,  there 
is  much  matter  of  great  valr.e,  of  the  propriety 
of  publishing  which  there  could  be  no  doubt. 
But,  with  respect  to  the  two  latter,  it  is  by  no 
means  probable  that  the  author  himself,  if  it  had 
been  possible  to  consult  him,  would  have  con 
sented  to  their  publication.  Nevertheless,  we  do 
not  regret  that  his  friends  have  judged  otherwise. 
Every  thing  from  the  pen  of  such  a  man  is  wor 
thy  of  attention,  and  of  being  treasured  in  the 
memory.  And  if  the  circumstances,  in  which 
these  parts  of  his  works  were  first  committed  to 
the  press,  could  be  constantly  borne  in  mind,  no 
injury  would  ever  accrue  to  his  venerated  memory. 
In  estimating  the  influence  of  the  writings  of 
Edwards,  there  may  be  some  room  to  doubt 
whether  it  has  been  altogether  and  throughout 
that  of  unmixed  good.  It  has  been  questioned 
whether  the  writings  of  this  distinguished  man 
have  not  promoted  a  spirit  of  abstruse,  metaphysi 
cal  speculation  in  discussing  Christian  doctrine, 
in  the  pulpit  and  from  the  press,  among  the  clergy 
in  a  large  part  of  the  United  States.  To  him, 
this  mode  of  discussion  appeared  to  be  natural. 
He  loved  to  look  at  every  subject  with  the  acute- 
ness  of  metaphysical  precision.  And  although  he 
seldjm  allowed  the  abstruse  plan  of  investigation 
to  intrude  in  examining  plain  and  practical  sub 
jects,  yet,  with  all  his  wisdom,  he  sometimes  feU 
into  this  error. 


248  AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 

It  has  been  already  hinted,  that  one  of  the 
faults  of  his  profound  and  noble  work  on  "  Re 
ligious  Affections,"  is,  that  in  some  of  its  p iarts  it 
is  altogether  too  abstruse  for  many  readers.  From 
admiration  of  his  invaluable  writings,  the  transition 
was  easy  to  an  imitation  of  his  manner.  And 
imitators,  it  is  well  known,  are  much  more  apt 
to  copy  that  which  is  faulty,  than  that  which  is 
commendable.  His  imitators  were  not  always  so 
careful  as  he,  for  the  most  part,  was  to  confine 
metaphysics  to  their  appropriate  field.  The  spirit 
of  speculation  began  to  be  inordinately  indulged. 
A  fondness  for  philosophizing  in  religion  became 
almost  as  rife  as  in  the  days  of  Duns  Scotus  and 
Thomas  Aquinas.  Inferences  have  been  deduced 
from  his  writings  which  he  never  sanctioned  ;  un 
til,  at  length,  principles  have  been  openly  imputed 
to  him,  which  it  was  one  of  the  main  objects  ol 
his  laborious  life  to  oppose  and  put  down. 

The  general  influence,  however,  of  his  writings 
was  benign  and  happy.  They  probably  did  more 
for  half  a  century  after  his  decease  to  stem  the 
flood  of  Arminian  and  Pelagian  errors,  which, 
when  he  published  his  work  on  the  Will,  was 
setting  in  on  the  American  churches,  especially 
in  New  England,  than  all  other  uninspired  writings 
put  together.  Their  influence  is  great  still.  And 
although  not  a  few  of  his  professed  admirers  are, 
insidiously,  attempting  to  turn  his  heavy  artillery 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  249 

against  that  very  citadel  which  it  was  his  honor  to 
have  long  and  successfully  defended,  yet  the  im 
position,  it  is  hoped,  will  soon  terminate,  and  pub 
lic  credulity  be  effectually  disabused. 

But  the  powerful  influence  of  the  writings  of 
Edwards  extended  far  beyond  the  native  country 
of  their  author.  Of  this,  abundant  proof  has  al 
ready  been  given.  The  fact  is,  these  writings 
have  given  a  complexion  to  the  theology  of  Great 
Britain,  as  well  as  of  America,  to  an  extent  not 
easy  to  be  definitely  measured.  Their  important 
influence  in  modifying  the  opinions  of  the  cele- 
orated  Dr.  Andrew  Fuller,  Dr.  John  Ryland,  and 
several  eminent  evangelical  men  in  the  English 
establishment,  is  too  well  known  to  need  more 
specific  details.  Many  of  the  most  profound  and 
learned  divines,  who  have  adorned  the  old  as  well 
as  the  new  world  for  the  last  three  quarters  of  a 
century,  have  not  been  ashamed  to  acknowledge 
themselves  largely  indebted  to  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  in  regard  to  all  the  great  departments  of 
theology  on  which  he  has  written. 

Such  is  a  brief  and  rapid  survey  of  the  writings 
of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  that  ever  ap 
peared  in  any  age  or  nation.  That  a  man  situated 
as  he  was,  in  a  retired  residence,  far  from  the 
.iterary  retreats  and  ample  libraries  of  the  learned ; 
without  a  neighbor  who  could  materially  aid  him 
in  his  inquiries  ;  ever  exposed  to  the  interruptions 


250  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  a  busy,  an  active,  and  generally  of  a  troubled 
life,  should,  in  spite  of  such  obstacles,  produce  so 
many  works  adapted  to  instruct  the  most  learned, 
to  aid  the  most  industrious,  and  to  bless  the  church 
of  God  in  its  most  precious  interests  and  its  most 
distant  generations,  is  one  of  those  remarkable  oc 
ourrences,  which  the  literary  as  well  as  the  pious 
man  is  called  upon  to  contemplate  with  admira 
tion  and  gratitude.  The  minister  of  religion, 
whatever  may  be  his  creed  or  his  denomination, 
will,  of  course,  consider  the  history  and  character 
of  this  distinguished  ornament  of  his  profession, 
as  worthy  of  careful  study,  and  in  some  respects, 
unquestionably,  of  studious  imitation.  But  there 
is  something,  in  the  character  which  has  been  ex 
hibited,  adapted  to  profit  every  one  who  looks 
upon  it,  and  especially  every  young  man  who  is 
beginning  to  cultivate  the  powers  which  God  has 
given  him,  and  to  prepare  for  serving  his  genera 
tion  and  posterity  in  a  manner  most  honorable  to 
his  rational  nature,  and  best  fitted  to  enable  him 
to  live  when  he  is  dead. 

The  pious  patriot,  when  he  looks  back  with 
grateful  acknowledgments  on  Washington,  and 
other  great  benefactors  of  the  community,  whom 
God  has  raised  up  to  accomplish  his  merciful  pur 
poses  toward  our  beloved  country,  feels  that  he 
is  cherishing  sentiments  as  reasonable  as  they  are 
dutiful.  Eqi  al  y  rational  and  becoming  is  it  to 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  251 

acknowledge  the  benignant  purpose  of  God  in  re 
gard  to  the  moral  and  religious  interests  of  man 
kind,  when  he  raises  up  men  eminently  endowed 
to  instruct  the  church  and  the  world,  to  resist  the 
encroachments  of  fanaticism  and  error,  and  to  pre 
pare  the  way,  by  writing,  by  preaching,  and  by 
example,  for  the  extended  establishment  of  truth 
and  righteousness.  When  those  who  cherish  these 
sentiments  shall  direct  their  attention  to  one  and 
another,  to  whom  the  reflection  is  applicable,  they 
will  see,  it  is  believed,  peculiar  reason  to  rejoice 
and  be  g-  \teful  for  the  life  and  the  labors  of 
JONATHAN  EDWARDS. 


THE    END. 


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